Gundam 00: Anticipations
by Chance Reeve
Summary: Join a new rag-tag team of friends on their journey as they challenge the cruel odds to battle against fate. What does it truly take to understand another Human?  What distance will they go, to survive? How long will courage last? Anticipate the future!
1. Opening

Honestly!

Who the hell can concentrate, let alone brood, when the sound of chopping rotors and pure speed drills through your skull? Somehow she found a way.

"_Tcht_… dammit!"

The lone rotorcycle jammed down the lit highway and unleashed a screaming roar of pure power through the night air. Its navy blue, sharp and angular design knifed through the infinite walls of the ether as it banked hard and turned the winding corner, ascending higher and higher in the corkscrew turn… finally leveling out at 800 feet above the glistening city.

It was so beautiful… Being up there on the Skyway allowed for a sight indeed!

"Hmmph… it's like one giant black ice cube," Caerlise thought as she gazed down over the zipping magnetic guardrail at the monolithic buildings what lined the busy streets below. The lights of the city reflected with an almost epic flare off the girl's dark helmet visor. Even at 3 o'clock in the morning, Los Angeles was ablaze with activity. Be it other hotshot rotorcyclists causing mischief, people leaving and going to work, the odd hooker standing on the street corner; so much life was in that electronic, solar, California city.

The way how the numerous lights of the city shone brightly in the dark truly looked like a black ice cube glistening in the moonlight…

_RaaRAAAAAAAANGGGGG!_

Caerlise kicked it up a notch and swung into the far lane, blasting forward with another feral scream from the 20 rotor engine. To the unsatiably reckless, the speed and the sound was more theraputic than any massage.

"Boy do I need a break…" she grumbled inaudibly to herself as the Skyway, aptly named for its sheer height into the air, dipped down for its suicide descent to another sector of the city. Instead of reducing her speed as per protocol, Caerlise reared back and popped a short back wheelie. The hotshot jammed down even harder on the accelerator with her right foot and fluidly flipped the handle stick's Twin-Drive changer to rack the high performance engine into 7th gear.

_GOOOWAMMMMMM!_

The cycle's broad headlamp glared forward as the machine lifted off the decline and caught about 5 seconds of air before it touched slowly leveling ground once again to continue on its mad tirade. The girl grinned gleefully beneath the dark visor at the brief sensation of weightlessness. With surgical precision, Caerlise weaved and bobbed in and out of traffic, now much more active than what was on the Skyway.

**VAVUM-VAVUM-VAVUM-VAVUM…**

The girl blinked her honey brown eyes, her keen ears picking up on the sudden clash of the vibrations coming from the rotorcycle and another vehicle fast approaching from behind. Caerlise glanced in the streamlined side mirror at the red and blue flashing lights of an Earth Federation Military Patrol car. "Tcht… well … _shit_…" The girl gritted her teeth, knowing full well that traveling at 128 miles per hour was against the speed limit. Then again, knowing the brunette, she really didn't care.

With a surprising burst from its high performance engine, the marked car strafed out from behind Caerlise, its crying klaxon slamming hard into the girl's eardrums despite the noise of her own engine.

The finely tuned engine of the Military car was a far cry quieter than the rotorcycle's 20 screaming workhorses. The vehicle pulled up alongside the rotorcycle; the blonde female driver looked over at Caerlise with a purely condescending look as she gunned the engines slightly, zooming past the cyclist.

Caerlise's eyes flashed behind the visor with vigorous spite, her very core stirring up violently at the steely gray eyed gaze of the girl behind the wheel of the car. "Zenna!" she seethed as she watched the car flawlessly zip about traffic on its destination to who knew where.

The girl smacked the side of her helmet, activating its electronic sound dampener systems and turned on the Wide Ban Radio within the headset she wore beneath the helmet.

"_Dispatch to all units, we have an Excel Class robbery on Wall Street and Boyd. Unit GZERO8 in the area please advance to sector 9A. Flag team Valiant-Garde has already been dispatched-KSSSSSSK…K...KKISSSHH-_

"Ahhh … Damn you… you think you're just such hot stuff, _huh_?" Caerlise shouted, her voice booming in the now silenced helmet. With a resounding ROAR, the girl flipped to 8th gear and barreled down the busy highway, aiming to chase down that driver at any cost.

The cars seemed to warp by as Caerlise weaved in and out of traffic, each one a literal death merchant. Any small slip up and the brown eyed girl could find herself making a pretty purchase from death; a one way trip to the hereafter.

_SKREEEEEEEEE!_

The tires screeched and smoked blank as the cycle ripped out from behind the car before it and jammed down the straightway as the marked EF Car fast came into view. Caerlise closed the gap and finally pulled up alongside the roaring car, her anger obviously getting the better of her.

With a barely audible "_thwink_", the dark visor of Caerlise's helmet slid up and away underneath the helmet's crown, her eyes blazing their anger towards the woman behind the wheel of the cop car.

"Oy oy! You little punk! Yeah, I'm talkin' to you!" Caerlise shouted at the top of her lungs, her teeth bared and cheeks crimson with anger.

Inside the car, the only sound the driver could hear was the gentle blowing of the air conditioner and the blazing siren. The woman's attention drew to the passenger side window at the spitting idiot screaming unheard obscenities. The wavy blonde haired girl blinked her gunmetal gray eyes and minutely shook her head, noting the precarious hand gestures the cyclist was tossing about.

"… Moron… no regard for authority," Zenna Renault said aloud to herself as a small grin of amusement crossed her passionately beautiful young face. She wore the typical blue uniform of the Earth Federation Military Task Force, however her jacket was casually opened down the middle. "And that's the exact reason why you looked like such a fool today… because you're antiquated trash…"

"Huh? Whazzat? If you're gonna say something, have the balls to say it to my _face_!" Caerlise shouted irately. She could see the calm and collected Zenna mouthing something while still facing forward, her eyes adeptly on the road.

"… I think I already told you what I think of trash like you," Zenna replied to herself, perfectly reading Caerlise's lips from her peripheral vision. Zenna turned her head and pointed towards the roof of the car with a condescending grin.

Caerlise's angry expression glanced upward just in time to see a Blue and White Federation Flag nose dive sharply towards her, knifing down the busy street with a deafening roar.

The girl's face was ablaze with a surprised stupor as her eardrums rattled and screamed in pain. The blazing hot air behind the Flag's engines warbled her vision as she lost control of the rotorcycle. The girl _jammed_ hard on the brakes and down shifted the enging as the nose of the rotorcycle nearly scraped against the still 100+ mph highway.

She looked up only to see the traffic light blazing red.

"_Shit_!" Caerlise risked a glance at Zenna who shot a "trademark" crooked grin her way… and gently raised her own hand and middle finger, generously returning the hand sign she had received earlier. "_Dammit!_" The biker swore loudly and struggled to keep the skidding two-wheeled deathtrap under control.

The agile EF car accelerated with a piercing scream and continued past the stop intersection with increased speed, leaving the still speeding bike on its own to deal with its own demise.

With a defiant shout, the girl slammed her boot heels down hard into the streaking highway sending a sudden dead shock coursing through her legs and spinal column. Despite the blistering pain, Caerlise locked her knees as her cycle boot soles quickly sloughed away, leaving her bare feet to take care of the braking.

_!_

The sickening sound of metal grinding against the highway could be heard as Caerlise continued her desperate braking maneuver, sparks flying like mad from the soles of her feet. The girl pulled back firm on the steering sticks to activate the wailing emergency braking system. "COME… ON…._STOP_!" she shouted as she gritted her teeth with closed eyes. She could feel herself overcoming gravity…

_SKREEEEEEEEEEEEETCHH!_

…

"…"

The blinding sound finally halted as Caerlise opened up one eye, seeing almost straight forward into the highway. The rotorcycle had stopped! It was up on its front wheel at nearly a 90 degree angle to the ground, but its forward motion was halted.

The bike slammed back down hard on its hind wheel as Caerlise let loose a thankful sigh. She gritted her teeth and looked down at the damage to her feet and knees. Wires and heat polished metal sparked and hissed all about her now flesh ripped and bloody feet; her knees seethed and crackled, their nanodrive motors fully maxed out. "Shit… I'm gonna hurt in the morning…" Caerlise muttered as she noted how her bike tires were more like _squares_ rather than circles now. She winced, feeling the unshredded muscles in her toned thighs start to cramp up. "Ahh cra-

**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEM **_**BROOOOOWWWWW!**_

Caerlise's gaze snapped forward to see head on the headlights of an Earth Federation Tactical Gun Truck barrel-assing towards her. Her crazy braking maneuvers had caused the girl to swerve into the opposite lane! "Sonofa_bitch-_

It was all she could do to force her dead legs to pop the rotorcycle in a quick hop to get out of the EF vehicle's path; she gunned the engine and veered hard to the right as the heavily armed and armored vehicle roared past her on thick armored tires supported by heavy duty repulsor lifts. Instantly her bike got sucked out from underneath her; Caerlise's athletically slender body was cast aside violently like a rag doll. She managed to close her eyes as she heard, with a sickening crunch, her beloved rotorcycle being crushed and mangled… such agony…

"_GAHUH_!" The girl hit the street hard, her biker jacket doing nothing to prevent the flesh on her right elbow from sheering clean off in a shower of blood and sparks to expose more metallic workings and wires. She rolled hard, the impact stripping away her right biker glove. The skin on her exposed palm flayed in a splurge of flesh, blood, and circuitry as she tumbled violently; her left knee cap cracked hard and popped loudly, sending metal shards knifing through her pant leg, tearing it to shreds. "_GACK_!" Finally Caerlise came to a rude upright stop, colliding hard with an Internet Newsstand on the far street corner.

"….Errrmmm…" The girl gingerly looked up at the mangled mess that was her ride… her vision quickly obscured by numerous vehicles whizzing past with nary a care for her whatsoever.

One of the bad points of Los Angeles… People were horrendously apathetic.

Caerlise let her head thud against the dense Newsstand as she let out an exasperated sigh. What a day.

A battle of egos on the first day of school.  
A crappy start to classes.  
Her totaled rotorcycle.  
… The horrendous state her cybernetic parts were in…

The girl peeled her helmet off with her gloved (yet still throbbing) left hand, small plastic pieces of her mangled radio headset piercing her skin. Sweat drained down from her matted brown hair to mingle with the blood on her neck. Her hair was just past shoulder length, but it hung down lazily around her head in almost a stringy manner thanks to her hot sweat and blood. The exhausted girl winced and swallowed hard; her mouth was dry, yet she tasted nothing but blood. She breathed in short, pained bursts, trying her best to will away the sudden onslaught of nausea. The girl blinked her honey brown eyes and gazed up at the cirrostratus covered celestial night light source, her sad and pained expression gently changing to that of "c'est la vie."

"… Good ol'… Los Angeles moon…"

* * *

_**In the darkness of this broken world, you will become the beacon of "change."**_

_**So, knowing this, don't walk, don't run, but fly to your dreams...**_

_**And never look back...**_

~MOBILE SUIT~

_**GUNDAM 00**_

~SIDE STORY: _ANTICIPATIONS~_

_**Life is uncertain; it's something we humans can never fully understand.**_

_**Even so, I will never be content with the wiles of fate.**_

_**If ever I lose sight of "us" along the lonely path towards tomorrow, I know you would break through the dark hell of that unknown future.**_

_**With your life, shining brightly like a reborn star...**_

_**You would guide me!**_

_**In the darkness of this broken world, you will become the beacon of "change."**_

_**So, knowing this, I won't say things like, "You would never understand," or, **_

"_**It's impossible for me to share my pain."**_

_**The unique love we share, in this future we fight to create, is never a gamble.**_

_**So, knowing this, don't walk, don't run, but fly to your dreams…**_

_**Our dreams...**_

_**And never look back…**_


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: In Anticipation of Your**  
**Future Endeavors**

**

* * *

**

It was her mission.

On this sunny and cloudless day, this of all days…, she would be a ghost.

A halcyon wraith in the night…

Caerlise dared a glance around the corner of the school building, crouching and scoping out the area. If luck were on her side, she could dash inside and make it in time for first period… and if she sat in the far back, no one would notice-

_"LIIIIIIIIIIIIISE!"_

Caerlise's brow fell, a purely perturbed expression of exasperation crossing her "badass," yet cute, face. With a sigh, she stood up and leaned against the building, summoning all her strength to generate a semi-convincing fake smile. "Morning Kyrie! Haha, didn't think you'd be coming around the _back_ of the school today haha!" She eyed the white haired, glasses wearing girl who hurried over to her with mixed expression of tender care and slight annoyance. "I guess what they say is true… giant main entrances don't mean a damn thing these days, am I right?" she added with a genuine grin of sarcasm. The shorter girl was toting a book bag loaded with literature of every kind known to man; or at the very least, every class subject she was taking.

Kyrie Lazon jogged up to the brunette and laughed, taking in Caerlise full attire.

Blue Biker jacket: check

Matching blue biker gloves: check

Stylish black tank top: check

White, ankle length granny skirt, complete with pleats…: check!

"Oh wooow! I thought you were just kidding about having to wear a skirt… but I must say, I _am_ impressed!" Kyrie joked as she analyzed Caerlise from top to bottom with her deep blue eyes. It was all she could do to not explode with laughter!

"Alright can it… jeez," Caerlise muttered as she turned the corner and walked with the white haired girl. Lise's honey brown eyes blared with embarrassment, matched in intensity only by her rosy red cheeks. All around other students snickered and laughed as the two crossed the Campus green, headed towards the main doors. She could feel everyone's gossip and heckling, even though the duo was well out of earshot.

"You know it's only been a week since the first day of classes," the shorter girl started with a grin, "still plenty of time to start some new fashion trends!"

"It's only for a couple a days, got it? Once Doc gives me the go ahead you can bet your ass I'm losing this… _grandma_ get up! Uggh…" The brunette hiked up her skirt and gingerly stepped across a mud patch

"_And _therapeutic shoes?" Kyrie stated with a roll of her head as she noticed the pristine white shoes her friend sported. She couldn't contain her laughter, "Nice! Very _very_ nice!"

"Yeah well look at you-" Caerlise shot back, eying the girl.

Actually…

Wearing tan sandals, khaki shorts, and a sandy white top… she didn't look half bad.

"Hmph!" The brunette picked up the pace, her gloved hands in tight fists of anger and embarrassment _"This is bullshit! Ahhh I'm goin' crazy here!" _she seethed silently, her teeth grinding the mortification to dust. _"All I need now is-_

"Kyrie! Lise-WHOA HO HO!"

Caerlise looked up and tossed her arms towards the sunny sky at the sound of the male voice and shook her head, silently pleading to what or whichever God cared to pay attention; more so whatever God happened to be chuckling at the moment. "I swear to Christ on the Cross, Jidane! If you say one word, I will _end _you!" she exploded, turning to eye her lifelong friend scampering across the green, a folder full of documents in his grasp.

"Take it easy killer! Jeez… Hey man I don't dress ya-

"Yeah, there's a reason for that," Caerlise said as she crossed her arms, taking in her buddy's ever professional attire. Nice slacks, nice tucked in button up shirt… "Who're _you_ tryin' to impress?" she questioned with a snide laugh, her eyes growing soft. She knew him, just like he knew her. Typical Jidane…

"Hilarious," the dark skinned boy muttered as he adjusted his backpack, "It's called channeling your future occupation. Might wanna try it some time?" he punctuated by handing the folder of papers to the skirt wearing girl. The boy's hazel eyes glinted facetiously, "Rockin' skirt by the way, heh!"

"Be careful Jidane," Kyrie started with a waving, wary finger, "our fair Caerlise seems to have chosen the _Tiger_ over the _Lady_ today!"

"Ha, ha" Caerlise said with a dry grin "I'm not really- What the…"

"Yeah, the results of our exams," Jidane started with a nod. Each Senior was required by state law to take an Earth Federation sanctioned competency exam, to best see where a student's talents would lie in a Military setting. It was thinly veiled propaganda, yet still, it was a sufficient enough exercise to find out if one had the "right stuff." It was essentially Grandfathered into the newly formed Earth Federation as a "best practice" from the former Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations

"Oh wow that was a pretty quick turn-around," Kyrie said as she stood up taller to get a good look.

"Yeah I figure even you wouldn't get angry about that! We all did great!" he said to the brown haired girl as he crossed his arms with a cocky grin.

Caerlise drew out a stapled stack and noted the name on the front. "Jidane Thoreau… …" She shook her head, absolutely incapable of being bothered to actually _read_ whatever was written on the page. "What the hell does this stuff mean-

"It means we did AWESOME" the boy said with an annoyed twang as he snatched the Earth Federation document away and turned the form right side up. "Did you even see it was upside down?"

Caerlise only turned her head slowly and blinked her eyes once. She stared at him blankly, tilting her head. "I am not an idiot. I can read upside down. Thanks." Such attitude…

"Oh hey lemme see…" the snow head started as the trio walked on. "Says here you're best suited for Mobile Suit piloting!" She looked back at Jidane with a proud smile on her face.

"Yeah and second for MS Design and Repair!" the boy added with an enthused grin.

"Wow, hey, seems like all your nerd hobbies finally paid off huh? Haha!" Caerlise joked, smacking the stack of papers playfully on his nose. It was true, the boy was a die-hard fan of all things military, science, or engineering related. His small apartment had a "shrine", as Caerlise was fond of calling it (much to Jidane's ire), devoted to Mobile Suit model kits and other assorted aerial craft.

"Yeah well read yours, Nerdy McNerdson," Kyrie laughed as she tapped the lead sentence on the second set of papers her female friend was holding. It was right there in bold face, 24 point font. "Number one: Mobile Suit Pilot!"

"What? Shut-up…" The girl's eyes focused on the job description and in an instant her brow fell. Her angry eyes darted over to Jidane. "See what your nerdness does? It rubbed off on me, asshat!" For all 2 years of junior high and 4 years of high school, Caerlise went to MS shows and expos with Jidane, mainly just to humor the poor kid. She never pegged it for being contagious.

"I dunno… that exam is pretty comprehensive when it came to the MS knowledge and operation section," Jidane said with a shrug. "Tell ya what, I design mobile suits and _you_ pilot 'em!"

"Right. Thanks, but I think I'll take my #2… Uggh…" Her expression fell yet again. "How, in the hell… would someone please tell me how I got-

"Medical Doctor! There is _no_ way!" Kyrie's surprise was filled with audible laughter. The beautiful snow head took the papers from the taller girl's grasp. Her eyes lit up, "Caerlise this is amazing! Wait till Dr. Castle finds out about this!"

"She WON'T!" Lise retorted as she snatched the paper away from the shorter girl. "And do more of this schoolin' stuff? Haha, no sir. Not I, said the cat," she said with a shake of the head.

"But Lise, it kinda makes sense doesn't You're really good in math and sciences and stuff… then again…" Kyrie looked at her friend critically.

"What?" she demanded with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm… well, you would never really guess that about you… but I suppose that's just one of your quirks!"

Lise gave a half smile, shaking her head. True, she knew she didn't exactly project a professional effervescence. She rather liked it that way, actually. Lise smiled warmly at her girl friend "Yes yes… ahh well," she started, handing the two stacks over to Jidane and keeping the third. "I always figured it'd be easier to kill people than it was to save 'em, haha!"

The other two stopped dead in their tracks.

"Hmm?" Lise walked on and turned to see their surprised expressions. "Jesus guys it's a _joke_!" she laughed. Such a genuine laugh she was capable of!

"Man, don't scare me like that!" Jidane answered back with a grin as the trio re-grouped. "And of course, there's you, Kyrie," he added, watching Lise thumb through the final stack.

"Says here you're fit for Information Technology Communications and second for-

Caerlise's eyes darted to Jidane. He only shrugged his shoulders.

"Uhh… a _cook_…"

"Well I figured as much for the both of 'em! I'd love to be the head of an IT firm someday… and of course you two know all about my wonderful cooking!" Kyrie said, her voice full of smile. True enough Kyrie was a computer and IT whiz kid, but a cook?

Caerlise leaned in close to the taller boy, shielding her mouth with the papers. "Hey you read this before right? What the hell?"

"Yeah I dunno… guess the system has a few hiccups or something." He said, risking a wary glance at the white haired girl who was still fawning over her results.

"So that explains my results too, right?" Lise whispered with a sly grin.

"-and perfect too because I still have some leftovers from your hospital stay!" Kyrie exclaimed suddenly.

"Yay! Heh heh!" the Lise-Jidane duo faked, exasperation written all over their faces.

"I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but you need your fiber when staying for an extended stay at a hospital!"

"Yeah maybe so, but why did I have to- OUCH!" The boy glared at the brunette who jabbed him in the side.

Lise only looked skyward and shrugged. "Hey man, share and share alike, right?"

Kyrie smiled warmly at her friends, "I even brought some for lunch today. Gotta keep up that healthy hospital regimen for at LEAST a few days after you get discharged ya know!"

Jidane and Caerlise gritted their teeth, forcing smiles. "Jeez… I crapped my brains out for that entire week," the boy started, speaking through his pearly whites.

"Nice. I _watered_ mine out the whole time. Not pretty." Lise replied.

Kyrie smiled and wrapped her arms around her friend's elbows as the trio walked into the building just as the morning bell rang. 5 minutes until classes started! "Greenfield High school, class of 2314! We seniors'll all make fine employees of the Earth Federation, won't we? So exciting!"

_..._

* * *

-...-

"… And then I was all 'BAM!' Textbook spike! Don't tell me I dunno how to play volleyball, _bitches_!"

The trio burst into laughter as they walked out of the school building and down the sidewalk. School had been uneventful as usual.

Typical class work.  
Typical lunch (with copious amounts of fiber).  
Typical after lunch class work.  
The one high point was the after school activities; typical cruel fate would have it be volleyball, Lise's best sport, but in her condition she was in no shape to play.

Typical Caerlise defied that order right off the cuff.

"Honestly I didn't think you could pull it off with that skirt but… I _was_ wrong!" Jidane laughed.

Lise only shrugged her shoulders and draped an arm around Kyrie's shoulder. "And thanks to my number one set up person… haha!"

"Victory was ours!" Kyrie finished. She knew she was no good for spiking the ball or other power moves, but she was exact and always precise, perfect for setting up a spike for a more powerful player.

"HEY!"

The trio turned to see a male figure jogging towards them, flagging them down. He looked familiar… but the hair…

The boy huffed quietly as he jogged to a stop beside the group of adolescents. "Man that was awesome back there! I just wanted to say so but you guys took off so fast!" The kid was about as tall as Jidane, slender, and strikingly handsome. Deep purple eyes and jet dark hair…

… The hair…

Caerlise's cheeks tinged red. "Kaino S. Jenesis… look at you!" Her expression changed and her voice smiled audibly, "Uhh… nice hair. What the hell, man?"

"Eheh…" The boy scratched his now bleached green head and nodded to acknowledge his other two fellow seniors. "Yeah… It's a long story…"

Lise only grinned, keeping eye contact and lowered her head, silently prodding for more info.

"The guys at the barracks figured it'd be a good idea to haze all us Flag Cadets."

"Don't knock yourself man… looks pretty decent actually!" Jidane said with a chuckle.

Kaino laughed heartily, "If you say so! Say, so how come you weren't on the court?" he asked, tugging at his Earth Federation Flag Fighter Cadet Uniform's collar.

"Eh… physical stuff isn't exactly my forte," the boy replied with a grin, "I'm not ripped like our awesome Flag Cadets or anything!"

"Yeah right! I always get hell from the guys back at base about my "girlish" figure. I swear one day I'm gonna light 'em all up! They'll never know what hit 'em!"

"Speaking of the EF, did you get promoted to a full pilot?" Kyrie asked as she repositioned the large pack of books on her back.

"Yeah actually. I had my first full out sortie last week. There was a robbery at the downtown High Containment Weapons Facility. Guy made a clean get-away too." Kaino looked at Lise with an upward nod. "And you. Heard you had a pretty bad spill a couple a days ago."

"Hmm? Huh yeah! It's no big deal," Caerlise replied, snapping out of her star struck stupor.

"Yeah, $200,000 plus in repairs later isn't really a big deal when you're talking about the military either!" Kaino laughed. "Seriously kid… watch yourself out on that death trap of yours…"

Lise only smiled timidly, blinking rapidly as she willed herself to not look away. She challenged his cool grin with a playfully defiant one of her own. "Hey I'm a big girl, jeez!"

Kyrie took it all in, a knowing grin permeating her young face. Clearly her girl friend had the hots for the young Military Man.

"That you are, Ms. Alna!" Kaino grinned and willed himself to not look away from her honey brown eyes. He shifted the EF issue messenger bag that was slung across his body further behind him. "Speaking of all things 'grown-up,' I was meaning to ask you guys. Tomorrow there's gonna be a big party at the Shark House," he started, referring to his barrack. The "Shark Bait Squadron," as the pro pilots called any contingent consisting of rookie pilots, were always housed in the most rundown barrack on base as yet another hazing element. "If y'all aren't doing anything you guys should come! What do you say?"

"A party at the military base? How do you guys get away with that?" Kyrie asked.

Kaino laughed, "It's sanctioned by the brass. They call it a "mental" break for us newbies."

"Sounds great to me! It could be pretty fun," Jidane piped up, nodding as he looked over at Caerlise. He shook his head, taking in her uncharacteristic timid face.

"Sweet," Kaino said with a grin as he turned towards Lise. "Whaddya say?"

"Huh? Yeah yeah! Wait, what?" The girl was completely unawares.

"I _said,_ awesome skirt ya got there," Kaino replied sarcastically as the other two snickered.

"Hey!" the girl shouted, immediately on the offensive, with a slight smirk.

"So I'll take that as a yes!" the boy replied with a grin. "Awesome guys, see you at around 7 tomorrow, okay?"

"Oh really? That's funny. I thought the party was at 7 tomorrow," a demeaning female voice interjected.

Kaino looked over Lise's shoulder to see a blonde haired, steel gray eyed girl who wore her EF Ensign uniform _exceptionally_ well. "Zenna… I was just-

"Making plans with the losers?" the strikingly beautiful girl said as she flitted her hair and approached the group. "Certainly you didn't just invite them to the base party."

"As a matter of fact I did," Kaino replied with his voice tinted a healthy mix of annoyance, embarrassment, and anger.

Caerlise frowned as the girl stepped in between her and Kaino.

"Heh! Well I suppose the military _is_ trying to appeal to certain classes of people more and more these days. Isn't that right? _Sear-lease _Alna?" She turned and addressed the brunette, condescendingly over-pronouncing her name. In an instant, the blonde took in Alna's her full attire. She didn't say a word; her haughty expression was more than enough.

"Zenna, that's-

"You'll be late if you don't hurry back to the base, _Ensign_ Kaino." The girl didn't even look his way as she barked the veiled order flatly. The way she spoke was jarringly seductive like razor-edged glass, quite the opposite of Caerlise's own defiantly confident and spicy voice

Kaino's expression bled annoyance. He shook his head and gave Jidane a playfully rough slap on the shoulder. "Don't forget guys… 7'oclock!" With a quick upward nod, he turned and departed, avoiding the gaze of his Superior.

"We'll be there!" Jidane replied, turning his attention to the stuck up girl, "you can count on it." Zenna Renault gave a curt crooked grin of sarcasm and a nod Jidane's way, her eyes never leaving their lock on Caerlise's. Her grin quickly faded.

"All three of you should know you're not welcomed at the base. Kaino's only being polite to show the graces of the Military."

"Right and you would know all about _grace_, wouldn't you?" Lise challenged, stepping closer.

"Oh I definitely would. But that's neither here nor there. Normally civilians aren't even allowed on base. You know… so many dangerous weapons and… _vehicles_ and all…"

"Go eat a di-

"Classless to the end, aren't you, Alna. Filthy-

The brunette raised a fist, quick as lightning, to plow her right in the face-

"_Lise!_" Jidane shouted loudly, drawing the hotshot's attention. "She's a marked officer…"

Kyrie held her hands in tight fists by her side. Deep inside she wanted to lash out and teach the uppity antagonist a thing or two… but her timid heart kept her emotions grounded. Her sapphire blue eyes darted between the three adolescents; she felt powerless to do anything.

Caerlise gritted her teeth and lowered her gloved fist.

"Hmph!" the blonde sounded flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder with a curt toss of her head. She hadn't flinched one bit. "Just to set the record straight, it was Kaino's flag that you saw that night."

"What?" Caerlise's eyes flashed wide. Just as quickly, her brow furrowed.

"Yeah… how romantic isn't it? See, I'm head point for Kaino's Flag Unit, _Valiant-Garde_. Looks like we'll be sticking together quite a bit from now on," she stated, slathering her words with hubristic malice.

"Well… guess that explains a lot then," Caerlise started with a cocky grin of defiance, "always chasing after people better than you… sure explains why you took off after him that night."

It was Renault's turn to fume. "_Tcht!_" She turned and walked away. "You're best off not showing face anywhere near the party. I swear you _will_ regret it," she said, well within earshot of the trio. "Class means a lot in today's new-age society… and you three are _severely_ lacking!"

"Kiss my ass, rich bitch!" Lise shouted back heatedly, watching the girl continue on her way.

Zenna's eyes darkened as she walked quicker on to catch up with Kaino. "You piece of _trash_… one day I'll kill you. I swear to _God_… I'll _kill_ you… _and_ your little s_hit_ friends…" Her voice had such a sinister and cold edge to it. Despite her status, such genuine thoughts of hatred and spite coursed rampantly though her core being.

Jidane watched as the stunning blonde faded out of sight, looking back at Kyrie who was visibly shaken. He put a warm hand on the girl's shoulder, his eyes softening. "Don't pay her any attention. She's all hot air! Hasn't 4 years taught you that?" Jidane looked over at the fuming Brunette. "Right Lise?"

Caerlise gritted her teeth, her gloved fists clenched tightly. The girl let loose a defiant shout of anger, turning to deliver a diamond splitting kick the boy's shin.

_..._

* * *

-...-

The threesome walked, and limped, down the dark streets to Kyrie's apartment. First stop on the Trio's walk home. For such a timid girl, Kyrie lived by herself in a small apartment in a fairly slummy part of the city; Jidane himself lived alone, just a few blocks further down. Out of the three, Caerlise perhaps had it best as she stayed with the kindhearted Dr. Rebeccah Castle in her larger apartment a few blocks beyond Jidane's modest bachelor pad. The good Doctor made a decent living working with cybernetic prosthetics. With the cybernetic market now on the slight incline thanks to increasingly expensive cellular regeneration options, Dr. Castle made sure to keep Caerlise in tip top shape… when she wasn't busy placing rush orders for the girl's cybernetic part replacements. In return, Lise would man the front desk of her small self-owned practice in the shopping plaza nearby.

The Brunette was still visibly angry about the earlier altercation with the "Blonde Bitch" she kept referring to. Kyrie still seemed uneasy and Jidane was making noble due with his freshly bruised leg.

"God_dammit_!" Lise shouted angrily at no one in particular.

"Gaah!" Jidane jumped hard, only hurting his tender leg 3 fold. "Caerlise curb your freakin' rage! We're just innocent bystanders when you flip out! _Jeez_…"

"Yeah yeah sorry 'bout that… It's just that… GRAAAH!" She punched the air before her, "what the hell is her _deal_ anyway? I barely knew the bitch back in middle school and she up and hated me! Grrr… that's one thing I _can't stand!_"

"What's that?" Kyrie asked timidly. She hated seeing her friend of 4 years like this. The trio was nearing an alley way. "Look guys, ya know, we're almost to my place, so why don't we all just-

"Ignorant fucks! You know what I mean? Small minded people who are just prejudiced from the get go! Even if they've got their own reason, they don't explain a damn thing but still just keep goin' forward with that…_stupidity! _I can't fucking _stand_ that! I mean seriously, even if she'd just tell-

_BAMF!_

Lise tumbled backwards as Jidane skillfully dodged to the side, cupping his leg once again in pain.

"Oh god Lise!" Kyrie shouted in surprise as a dark object collided with the Brunette, knocking them both flat.

Lise was up in a flash, her eyes on livid rage. "Watch where you're goin' ya _dumbass_!" she shouted, kicking the mound of flesh that bumped into her. It emitted a rather emasculated yelp, only fueling Caerlise's rage. "Get up ya-

"Please don't hurt me!" the mound shouted back as it scurried backwards, by chance dodging another skillful kick from the livid brown-eyed girl. The unknown boy stumbled and fell on his backside, muttering obscenities. Caerlise stomped one foot on his chest, her face comically lacking mercy.

"I'm gonna hurt you all I want… _because_ _you're not _WATCHIN' WHERE YOU'RE-

"There he is! The little PUNK!"

"C'mon guys let's kill the little SHIT!"

The trio looked up to see a gang of burly men storming out of another side alleyway further ahead, drawing guns and baseball bats.

"Omigod!" Kyrie shouted, her eyes wide in fear.

"Ahh hell!" Jidane stammered, his adrenaline coursing through him as he saw the lead hooligan with the gun point straight at him.

**BAGOOM!**

From behind the thugs, belching fire erupted LOUDLY, knocking everyone backwards. The heat from the blast was-

**BAGOOOM! OMMMMM!**

A second, and third blast!

The taller girl shielded the snow head from the heat as more and more explosions sounded vigorously all about, ripping everyone's eardrums. "WHAT THE HELL'S GOIN ON HERE-

All about, the already pot hole ridden streets buckled and cave in with a resounding tumult of one thousand earthquakes, silencing everyone's screams and shouts in an instant.

_..._

* * *

-...-

All she could see was white.

The purest white…

So this must be the afterlife. Was heaven… really this white?

"Lise!" The snow haired girl quickly pulled Caerlise's skirt from over the Brunette's own head, revealing the bright white light of the underground cavern.

Caerlise blinked hard, her dirty and scratched face contorting in the intense light. "What… the hell-

_COUGH! _

"Jidane!" Kyrie shouted as she looked back and motioned for Lise to "_stay put_," stumbling over to the recovering boy. Lise blinked hard, dust and smoke everywhere. "…What… the hell?" she muttered, gingerly picking herself up. Her lungs burst into painful fire and she breathed in. The girl coughed hard, doubling over from the pain. She gritted her teeth and took a deep breath, plowing through the pain of the hard landing she must have taken. She winced and forced her body to stand fully upright. Lise's mouth immediately salivated; she knew what would come next. Mustering every ounce of mental strength she could, the girl willed away the nausea caused from the pain. The youth took several more deep breaths, finally regaining control over her athletic body. She peered about their lit surroundings, her mind fully puzzled. "Where the hell are we?" She looked forward at the prostrate boy before her, clad in black. "YOU!" With a near instant renewed vigor Lise delivered a swift kick to his crotch "WHAT THE _HELL_ DID YOU JUST DO?"

With a defeated groan, the boy regained consciousness instantly. Writhing in agony, Caerlise only glared at him with disdain. In the distance she could barely make out the mangled bodies of the thugs from earlier.

"Uhh… T-Thanks Kyrie," Jidane stammered as the duo walked over to Lise and the stranger. "Just what the hell happened?" Jidane asked, sporting a walnut sized bump on his bruised head.

"No idea, but this joker must know SOMETHING!" Caerlise punctuated with a foot slam to the chest. "What the _hell_ just happened here? Where are we?"

The boy coughed hard, catching his bearings. "I-I… I dunno nothin'!"

"WRONG ANSWER!" Caerlise shouted, slamming her foot down on his chest again.

"Lise! Calm down!" Jidane snapped as he swooned.

The bleach haired girl beside him quickly held him aloft, struggling to maintain their combined footing on the loose rubble. The short girl dug down deep, finally keeping them both steady. She looked back and forth between Jidane and Caerlise, her eyes filled with deep concern. "What are we supposed to do? What just happened!"

"Don't cry we'll get outta this mess," Lise replied confidently, looking at the boy underfoot. "Once this guy starts talking!"

Jidane's mind churned ravenously as he looked around at the lit cavern. _"Fluorescent lighting? Why underground?" _"Hey Lise… ever take the subway?"

"The Subway's been closed down for a couple hundred years by now. Trust me, I thought the same thing," the girl started as she bent down and hauled the black clad man to his feet. "Alrighty now. Let's start with a name. SPILL IT!"

"HEY! Ugg… Lemme go!"

Caerlise's eyes glared wide, her chin furrowing in anger.

"The name's Akio! Akio Tanaka! Jeez lemme go!"

"Aki…o?" Kyrie repeated in surprise.

"… Huh…?" Caerlise grunted flatly. Her face reared back and contorted in annoyed skepticism instantly. "That supposed to be some kinda joke? You're as white as I am!" She looked at his flaming red hair, "and you're a freakin carrot top!"

"So what? I'm Akio Tanaka! Leader of the _Naraku_ Gang!"

Lise's expression was a semi-wide eyed mixture of pure disgust, embarrassment, and dumbfounded disbelief.

All in equal portions.

"The _Naraku_ Gang?" Jidane and Kyrie exchanged unconvinced glances.

"…The hell? What you think you're some kinda ninja or somethin'?" Lise interrogated, hoisting the guy up higher. For a girl with her athletic volleyball build, she was even stronger than she looked.

The boy snorted in grave offense. "_Please_! Ninjas aren't expert pyro-technicians!"

"So you DID cause all this! God_damn_ you!" The brunette reared back a fist.

"NO PLEASE DON'T!"

The way how he screamed in terror drew an almost comically blank expression from Caerlise. "…Seriously…"

"Wait so you caused those explosions earlier?" Kyrie asked, her face awash with unease.

"Yeah thanks! My eardrums are begging for more you idiot!" Jidane interjected, slowly letting go of the snow head. Finally he had collected his full bearings.

"Heh! So you liked the show, eh?" Akio looked down at the girl's attire who held him up. "Nice skirt!"

"Alright jackass, no more snide remarks, otherwise you'll be just like your buddies over there!" Lise shouted angrily. She heard Kyrie give a gasp of surprise as she herself winced. Stupid! She had hoped to spare her friend the sight…

"Heh! Those _Long Island Enders_ didn't stand a chance! I didn't mean for you guys to get involved. Gang wars are pretty hardcore stuff, or haven't you realized?"

"Yeah, it's all over the news… _LIEs_ and the _Loose_ are always at each other's throats… but I never heard of this "_Naraku_" Gang," Jidane said as he stumbled over the rubble to take Lise's hands off the boy. "_Naraku_… that's Japanese isn't it?"

"Yeah man, good ear! 'Mean's 'Hell.' It's a new one I'm starting up-

"Look you don't just _start up_ a gang. Especially with heavy explosives!" Lise shot back as she reluctantly let the boy stand on his own two feet.

Akio gave a defiant grin, his spiky red hair glinting in the light. "Listen up, _Kitty Cat!"_ The boy thrust a defiant fist high into the air. "Once the world hears about the inextinguishable and unrelenting Fire of the _Naraku_ gang, people from all over will be just beggin' to join up! And I'll be the leader! Akio Tanaka! The Fearsome and Immortal, Eternally Badass Boss of The _Naraku_-

A _SWIFT_ punch to the face quickly quieted his tirade.

"The FUCK'RE YOU _TALKIN'_ ABOUT?" Lise had just about enough. "Check that _weeaboo_ shit at the door, man! YOU'RE NOT FREAKIN' JAPANESE." Her honey brown eyes glared at the boy with sublime amazement at his level of sheer idiocy. She shook her head as a threatening laugh escaped her mouth, "And I swear to _God_ if you ever call me Kitty Ca-

"Lise!" Jidane quickly interrupted the two.

"Lise…" Kyrie saw the frustration in the girl's eyes. She could tell just how worried Caerlise really was about the situation. It went beyond the anger she displayed…

"Hey wait, w-what did you just call me?" the reeling boy demanded.

"I just _called_ your stupid bluff! Stop being a poser and get real! You just bombed a hugeass hole in the middle of _fucking Los Angeles!_" She motioned to say something further but stopped. The brown-eyed girl paused and drew in closer, with a demanding, menacing look"…Just where the hell did you get so many explosives anyhow?"

The boy stood up, holding the swollen side of his face, "Man it was awesome! I hit this military depot downtown like a week ago. 'Jacked a Fed heavy truck and made a _clean_ getaway! Haha, man shit was _SO_ cash! I creamed some dude on a rotorcycle! Bastard's ride was totaled for sure!"

"You honestly have no problems being so damn cocky do you?" Jidane shouted. He was seriously annoyed by this "Akio's" strange antics. The dark skinned boy looked over at Caerlise, her expression reminiscent of a God of Death.

"… Lise!"

_..._

* * *

-...-

The trio-plus-one walked down the wide lit corridor in relative silence. No one had any idea where they were, let alone how to get out. Lise walked behind Akio, who now sported two swollen cheeks, with her bare arms behind her head, trying in vain to come up with an escape plan. She had her biker jacket tied about her skirted waist as sweat ran down her toned arms.

"Temp's rising… damn…" Jidane unbuttoned another step in his now untucked shirt as he fiddled with his cell phone. "Still no GPS… guess I'm not surprised…" He noted the time. _"5 in the morning… how long were we all out for?" _he thought. He looked over at Kyrie whose cheeks were now a bright rose. She had long lost her book bag, and her usually manageable white hair was sweat matted against her forehead and temples. He smiled at her and touched her hand. "It'll be okay… no worries, right?"

Kyrie smiled at him and pushed her small rectangular glasses back up her sweaty nose. "I'm just a little concerned that's all… this is all so…

"I know… If this IS the old subway system, it should have been cemented off two centuries ago… none of this makes sense.

"And we're going on a decline… but it's getting warmer," Kyrie added. "Maybe this is an underground military base?"

"Hmmm… if it is, the EF sure did a good job of keeping it secret. What's that up ahead?" Jidane looked to see a solid metal wall a few meters in front of the group. "This is definitely Military or _something_."

"What the heck? Is that a door?" Caerlise stepped forward, brushing past Akio

"Hey lady… I seriously didn't know that was you on that bike-

"Shut it!" she punctuated with a sharp elbow to his bruised (and perhaps broken) ribs. The boy only yelped in response.

The group neared the giant blast doors with collective awe.

"No EF markings anywhere…" Jidane started as he looked over the massive door. "There're aren't even old Union identification markings either..."

Kyrie moved over to a dusty control panel. "The power to this terminal is still on… Wow…"

"What's up chick?" Caerlise asked as she walked up to the white haired girl. She looked over the panel, recognizing a few of the possible command strokes.

"This is so old! Look at the technology… physical QWERTY keyboards... Super basic retinal biometrics…

"Yeah it looks like it…" Lise met the girl's surprised look. "Hey now, I use computers too ya know!" she laughed with a playful shoulder shove.

Kyrie smiled, her heart slowly returning at ease. There was something about Caerlise that always calmed her. Sure she was as hot-blooded as they come… but when it came down to protecting her friends, there was no surer, no more dependable friend than Lise.

"Think you can get it opened?" Jidane asked as he looked over the keyboard layout.

"I can try," Kyrie nodded.

"Uh… hey guys? I don't think this is Earth Federation stuff here, guys…" Akio reeled backwards as he took in the full height of the door.

"Yeah we _know!_" Lise retorted. She turned her head back to Kyrie. "Let's see you work your magic!"

"Okay… hmmm…" the girl thought for a moment. "Since it might not be military, lemme start with a zero format code…" She reached out for the key panel and thumbed a few key strokes. "Looks like the monitor's toast." She looked up at the retinal scanner. "Maybe I can-

_Multiple shots to the body and arms.  
A single gunshot to the abdomen._

_Opening a large door._

_The battle field… Space.  
Dappled enemies._

_Large beam blasts._

_The battle field… Earth.  
Numerous explosions._

_That man's coolly sinister look._

_Pointing a gun at the man._

_A fancy banquet._

"Kyrie!"

The girl snapped conscious at the sound of her name by a female, the acrid odor of burnt ozone drilling deep into her nostrils. "…Wha…"

"Thank god you're okay!" Jidane said with relief. "You took one heck of a system shock!"

"… Wha…"

"Stop talking now. Jesus don't you ever scare me like that again!" Lise said with a sigh of relief. "Good news is you got that door opened!"

"Man she okay? That's good…" Akio's face popped into her field of vision. "Man, you were out for like, 15 minutes!"

Kyrie's eyes swam over to the boy. She could tell from the look in his eyes, he was honestly concerned… he just showed it in his own strange way. Her vision floated over to noted Caerlise's perturbed expression.

"We're down here because of you, so back the hell off alright?" Lise shook her head and pursed her lips

Kyrie watched Lise's angry eyes burn with fire. She loved it. It was something she so badly wished she could emulate. Not the anger… but the passion… She watched as Caerlise looked away from the redhead and met her gaze, with softer eyes. Cradled in her arms, Kyrie felt a genuine sense of care and protection. One day…

One day, she hoped to return such kindness and dedication, in her own little way.

Kyrie stirred and slowly sat up, Lise helping her along the way. "Ya got it?"

"Y-Yeah… I'm okay…" Kyrie eyed the fried control terminal on her ascent. "Well I knew I was a decent hacker, but… haha wow!"

"Yeah, you're definitely alright!" Jidane said with a chuckle as the group continued on through the now cracked doors and into a large underground hangar.

Their collective exclamations were out of this world. Everywhere there was a fine layer of dust and debris from times long forgotten. In the very center of the hangar sat a majestic carrier ship. White and silver yet adorned with dust and sediment.

"What… the hell?" Caerlise stopped in her tracks and took in the sheer size of the aerial ship. Long and arrowhead in shape the rear conical thruster nacelles screamed of an odd blend of archaic yet modern technology.

"No way! This is a… oh WOW!" Jidane dashed forward taking in the ship's dimensions. "It can't be! This looks like a stripped and scaled down model of… oh my god! This-

The boy continued about his awestruck tirade as Lise looked around the room, her eyes falling on a white and silver giant, propped against the far wall slumped over on its side. "What the hell… That's-

"A mobile suit?" Kyrie finished. It definitely was.

"Holy shit! That ain't no normal Mobile Suit!" Akio shouted in surprise as he dashed over towards the fallen 18 meter tall machine.

"That's-

"A Gundam… huh…" Caerlise's eyes slowly narrowed as she tried to keep her awe in check. Why the hell was a mobile suit like that down in a strange place like this?

The girl blinked rapidly. She remembered well the TV splashes and the articles about the "Gundam" mobile suits used by the "anti-conflict" group "_Celestial Being_." It was little more than a year since _Celestial Being_ seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth.

"Heh…" Jidane was caught in his own world. He read the dust encrusted nameplate on the side of the ship "_Pythagoras?_" He grinned wide, taking it all in. Without a doubt, the ship design, the canonical drive array in the rear… everything… "I can't believe… HEY GUYS! I THINK THIS SHIP BELONGS TO CELEStial…" his voice trailed off as he looked back at the trio who was gathered about the fallen Gundam Mobile Suit. "No way!"

"Man would you take a look at this thing? SO SWEET! Oh _WOW!_" Akio scrambled atop the mobile weapon, checking out its silver and white color scheme.

Caerlise stood her ground, shaking her head in disbelief. "What the hell is this all about? This place looks like it's been abandoned for years… centuries even!"

"I… I-I don't understand any of this…" Kyrie started, taking it all in. "This… we shouldn't be-

_A young boy. A fist that must have been hers, punched him.  
A confident man's kind gaze.  
That man's lips mouthing words of advice._

"Whoaa Kyrie!" Lise caught her friend who stumbled forward. "Babe, what's going on with you?" the girl asked, her brow furrowed in concern.

"I-I… I-

"Kyrie! What's going on?" Jidane shouted as he placed his hand on her back. He grinned "Yeah it's a lot to take in at once, isn't it?" he asked, assuming she was just overwhelmed. "Guys I think all of this stuff, I mean _all_ of it, is from _Celestial Being_!"

"Yeah I sorta got that what with there being a huge-ass ship and a Gundam sitting in here," Lise replied back sarcastically.

In a clearly conditioned response, Jidane only looked at her in the way a sibling would, to call out another sibling on their unnecessary attitude.

"No seriously. It's literally sitting down. Like, right here, on its ass." She motioned behind her with a flick of the thumb. Her sarcasm was on full blast, but it was because of the tense situation. She couldn't care less about a ship, or even the Gundam. The big issue was that her friend wasn't 100% healthy.

"Well first we need to get K and ourselves outta here," Jidane started. He looked up to see Akio still fawning over the mobile suit. "C'mon we're leaving!"

"LEAVING? This is a freakin' Gundam man, we can't leave it! Imagine what this thing'd do for _Naraku's_ image!"

"We'll come back dumbass! We need to get outta here first and contact the EF later! This is a super important find-

"Dude YEAH? The Feds'll just take this all away from us! This is officially no longer _Celestial Being's_ stuff! I, Akio Tanaka of the _Naraku_ Gang hereby claim that Space Ship and this Mobile Suit as property of _Naraku_!"

"… God, _whatever_," Jidane muttered as he and Caerlise gingerly helped Kyrie move forward.

"Atta girl!" Lise encouraged with a smile. She met her friend's timid, sickly gaze, "Just a little more then we'll rest once we're out of this pla-

_RATTA TATTA TATTA-_**BAGOOOOOM!**

The hangar doors pimpled from machinegun rounds and exploded inward with a sudden hot rush of fire.

A blue and white Earth Federation Flag swooped inside the hangar and transformed into MS mode with a resounding symphony of gears and struts moaning and groaning.

_THIS IS THE MILLITARY POLICE! LAY DOWN ALL WEAPONS AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!_

Kyrie shouted out in surprise, the sudden explosion and presence of the menacing Flag was too much for her. The girl's terrified expression quickly faded when her eyes rolled back and her body fell limp. She was out cold.

"Shit! What the _HELL'S_ GOING ON NOW?" Lise shouted angrily as the Flag flashed its blinder flood lamp on the quartet. The deafening roar of the Flag's power plant ravaged their ear drums.

Jidane cursed loudly as his vision blanked out. He stumbled, accidentally dragging Kyrie down with him. "KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!" he shouted over the noise as a second Flag Fighter boosted loudly into the bay, already in MS mode.

"Guess we got 'em cornered now!" Kaino said with a grin. "Damn gangs… they're getting awful brave to wipe out an entire city block…"

_"Ensign Jenesis! Is that what I think it is?" _the com squawked. Kaino took in the white and silver mobile suit with a sense of awe. A smaller dedicated video-window popped up on the cockpit monitor screen, showing a magnified image of the silent white sentinel. "A… Gundam!" he whispered.

"Is that a Gundam Mobile Suit?" the female co-pilot started in surprise. Kaino looked over at Ensign Renault who sat in the cockpit pod beside him.

"No mistake about it," he replied. For some reason he wished the new redesign of the Flag retained the single-seater cockpit type, especially in the presence of this hotly discussed Gundam mobile suit type. "So this must be where _Celestial Being's_ been hiding out… _what?"_

He zoomed in his monitor to see the group of gang members with astonishment. "Is that… Caerlise? And Jidane and Kyrie too? Why are-

"Shoot them!" Zenna said flatly, her eyes widening. Her mind was elsewhere at the moment…

"_What?_ They're just innocent civilians-

"I SAID SHOOT THEM, THAT'S AN ORDER!"

The first Flag leveled its bull pup machine gun at the group.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE ENSIGN!" Kaino shouted into the com, he eyes in pure shock. "Zenna what the hell's gotten into you-

"Ensign Jenesis, you are violating a _direct_ order from your superior officer! I was given lead, and my orders are what you are to follow! I said SHOOT THE RENEGADE GANG MEMBERS NOW!"

"I will _NOT_! Those are our classmates-

"Ensign Spencer!" Zenna glared at Kaino while she spoke over the com channel.

_"Yes ma'am!"_

"… Open fire on Ensign Kaino's Flag."

"What? What are you-

_"Do WHAT ma'am?"_

"I said… open fire and destroy Ensign Kaino's mobile suit. Follow the order or I will have you court marshaled!"

_"B-but ma'am I-_

With a stern look, Zenna switched off the communications link. "Well?"

"You're insane!" Kaino retorted, his eyes full of shock and awe. He had no idea Zenna's hatred towards his fellow classmates would ever go this far.

"Your evaluation means nothing to me, Ensign Jenesis. I gave you a direct order and you disobeyed. Must I remind you that the cockpit recorders are always running?"

Kaino set his glare, stealing a glance out his monitor at the Flag Fighter leveling its gun at the Flag's cockpit.

"Unlike you, I'm unafraid to die for my ideals. Either you kill them, or he kills us. And I'm sure I don't have to paint a picture… but "us" includes _"you."_ Which is more important?" Her beautiful grey eyes had a far off, sadistic darkness to them, "Your life, or your ideals?"

Kaino's sweat dripped down his temples. "Life or ideals? Are you serious?" The cockpit was suddenly awash with red photons indicating a lock on.

Zenna only glared back, shaking her head as her hand danced across the auxiliary control panel. "Now I have control." With that, the separating blast door snapped shut between them, leaving him and her to their own devices.

The flag signaled an optical "_Stand down_" command, to Ensign Spencer, and turned to the civilians crowded around the mobile suit. "I said I would kill you," Zenna whispered, her hands shaking on the control sticks.

_She could see her beloved father, just as he always was. Kind… gentle…_

"I said one day I would _kill_ you all…" she whispered.

_She could see the funeral procession. The casket draped with military decorations and honors…_

"I'm gonna _kill_ you… and those little _SHIT_ friends of yours…" she whispered. Her fingers trembled on the trigger. Her eyes blinked instinctively as the pounding on the blast door beside her fought to draw her attention. Kaino was trying desperately to dissuade her any way he could.

_She could see her father's face at the military wake. Just as he always was. Kind… gentle…_

"I swore… I'D KILL YOU ALL!" she shouted as she closed her eyes and pulled hard on the trigger.

* * *

"GET DOWN!" Caerlise shouted as a rain of machine gun fire cascaded upon them like hellfire from heaven. Unrelenting, the kids could feel the swathing vacuum of air caused by the careening shells overhead. As round after round ripped through the ether, the entire room heated up quickly.

After what seemed like an eternity, the rain stopped…

Kaino saw in horror the bullet riddled far wall.

No casualties.

He swallowed hard, unable to comprehend the actions of his commander. With a loud shout he punched the blast door repeatedly "ZENNA! IS THIS SOME SICK JOKE? ZENNA!"

Caerlise raised her head slowly, hearing the oversized bullet casings rolling around on the dusty ground. She looked to her side to see Jidane quaking with fear. The still unconscious Kyrie looked as if she could be dead. Lise motioned to shout but no words came out.

_"Go to the ship! Take cover inside it if you can!" _That's what she wanted to say.

No words.

Too much fear…

Too little courage…

Her eyes were moist. Moist with tears.

She was crying.

The girl gritted her teeth, seething in anger. She was so _angry_. Angry with herself. It was like she was back in middle school all over again. The terrorist attack; the explosion.

The look of fear on Jidane's young face.

At the present moment in time, she was lacking something. She lacked courage.

The courage she felt all those years ago.  
That burning, hot-blooded surge of power.  
The Guts to do what she knew she had to.  
The determination that even if she were to die… she would still somehow find a way to live.

She needed that feeling. Right there, right now.

She lost nearly all her limbs that day, many years ago.  
She lost them because she had that "courage."  
She had that "guts."  
She had that "hot blood."

She _had_ it?

She _STILL_ had it.

"JIDANE!" Caerlise let loose a powerful shout, barely audible above the roar of the twin Flags standing before them. She looked over at her lifelong friend. "MOVE YOUR ASS! GET KYRIE OUTTA HERE!"

The boy was startled by the shout, but looked to see the burning vigor in her eyes. Instantly he recalled that same look from years ago. He remembered the energy that look gave him to press on and to survive.

"L-Lise-

"MOVE!" she shouted as the ground beneath her shook and trembled.

With almost psychic timing, the hangar was awash with blue particles of light, swarming all about like billions upon billions of blue fireflies. The unrelenting swirling typhoon of blue particles stirred up her sweaty hair and skirt. Caerlise stood up defiantly, her confident gaze locked sternly on her most precious friends.

It was the Gundam.

The mobile suit's legs budged and started to bend at the white knees as it tried to stand up.

Caerlise watched as Jidane gingerly rose as fast as he could, and half dragged the unconscious Kyrie over towards the hull of the _Pythagoras_. "That's it Jidane… take care of her!" she whispered. Through the spiral storm of blue, the girl turned her head towards the moving giant with an unshakeable look of conviction on her "badass," yet cute face.

_THOOM!_

The Gundam's foot crashed hard into the ground, nearly toppling her over. Lise flailed wildly as she grabbed hold of the foot's front which rose again and extended. The poor girl tumbled along the leg's hard smooth surface and crashed hard onto the "pelvis," grabbing hold of one of the white fin-like protrusions, hauling herself up and tumbling into the cockpit.

"HEY! OUTTA THE WAY DUMBASS!"

"THE HELL?" Caerlise barely righted herself as the cockpit blast doors slammed shut, throwing the duo into total darkness, save for the brightly glowing blue control panel. "Akio! You _idiot_ you were in here the whole time?"

"Hell yeah, what'd you think it was moving on its own- OHH! GOD_DOMMOT!"_

Caerlise would admit to anyone that it felt great to sock the idiot one good, right in the nose, at a time like that. The boy cupped his hands about his face, muffling his stream of obscenities. Both of their attentions were drawn to the lit view screens which provided a near 270 degree field of vision before, around, above, and below them. "It's standing up!" the boy shouted in awe.

Lise kept a cool head. "Of course it is. It's all controlled by the software!" she replied. She actually did know a thing or two about mobile suits.

* * *

Jidane knelt below the front entry hatch of the _Pythagoras_, cradling the gradually coming-to girl in his arms. He looked back through the bevy of blue particles at the slowly rising white Giant with wide eyes..

Kyrie's eyes slowly fluttered open to see the white giant hoisting itself to its feet. The swarm of blue light particles caused a slight undulating headache behind her eyes, yet even so, her gorgeous blue eyes opened up wide to watch the Gundam's pressure regulators belch loudly with air, further swirling the torrent of blue scattered light. "I can't… believe it…"

* * *

The Gundam slowly rose to its full 18 meter height. Its head skillfully lifted up to face its enemies as the swirling hum from the canonical power drive connected on its back brimmed at critical power. With a resounding call of duty, the Gundam's eyes sweltered a deep azure.

"My God!" Spencer shouted. He leveled his gun at the white bastard as the flood of blue particles continued

Kaino stared at the white and silver mobile suit with reverent awe… as if he were staring into the eyes of God himself.

The Brunette girl's eyes flashed open wide. "Shit he's gonna shoot-

"OUTTA THE WAY LADY! LET A MAN HANDLE THIS!" Akio shouted as he shoved Lise out from the seat.

"HEY!" She was cut off by the sudden hail of bullets to the MS they were both in. The jarring vibrations dug deep into her teeth and gums painfully as she felt every microsecond of every vibration sear through her bones, prosthetic and all.

The Gundam faltered back as its body splayed bullets left and right, the hellfire striking it hard in the face and torso.

_RATTA TATTA TATTA TAT-click click click!_

Akio managed to right himself up with a determined laugh. "Haha! He's out! Now it's my turn! Not a scratch on me!" The boy depressed the foot pedals and grabbed the control sticks as he…

…

There were no foot pedals.

There were no control sticks.

Only exposed wires and circuit board where the implements SHOULD have been.

"W-what the _Hell?_" the boy shouted in surprise "W-wha wha I-I dunno what to do! WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO?" he asked the girl hysterically.

"SHUT THE HELL UP FIRST OFF!" the girl shouted as she punched him in the nose yet again and grabbed him by the collar of his black shirt. She rudely ejected him from the seat to take his position and quickly buckled herself in. The entire time she had done a quick scan of the control panel.

No movement input whatsoever, but everything else was 100% intact.

Random repair tools strewn everywhere.

Barely out of sight near where the sticks should be and below near the absent foot pedals were two I/O sockets for repair machines to perform diagnostic testing and direct hardware control.

The girl grabbed a Phillips head screwdriver and hoisted up her skirt. She gritted her teeth smiling in thought "Sorry Doc…!"

Caerlise stabbed herself HARD in the thigh repeatedly in a line, fighting back the nauseating pain. Lucky for her, the girl's cybernetic parts were equipped with an automatic nerve deadening system in the event of catastrophic failure. It had spared her quite a bit of grief from her bike spill the week before, and this certainly wouldn't be the last time.

She stuck her hand deep into the perforated incision, past the artificial organic muscle and blood and pulled out an I/O connector cable. "Plug this in down there!" she barked to Akio who starred in horror. "JUST DO IT!"

She stabbed the back of her right hand and drew the screwdriver hard across the flesh to rip a decent sized rough incision as the boy plugged in the socket below. She pulled out another I/O connector from the back of her exposed hand and plugged it into the socket near the control panel.

"Alright!" She eyed the Flag as it reloaded and took aim once again, raining bullets on the duo. With just a thought, the Gundam's left arm swung up and deflected the bullets with the hard-mounted medium tactical shield. "I think YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH!" Lise shouted as the Gundam boosted forward with a haze of blue particles. "HANG ON!" she shouted as the two mobile suits collided with each other, the Gundam slamming the Flag hard into the opposite wall. The Gundam's white finned head crashed _hard_ into the Flag's own, cracking the enemy's main monitor.

"DAMMIT! It's fighting back! I need help!" the Flag pilot screamed.

Kaino slammed his control panel. There wasn't anything he could do! All control was taken by his co-pilot. "DAMMIT ZENNA!"

The Gundam's eyes _flashed_ as it drew back in a swarm of blue. Caerlise eyed the weapons readout on the far left side of the forward wrap-around monitor. "Forearm Vulcans…!" The girl raised her right arm and with gritted teeth formed a tight fist with her mangled right hand. "EAT THIS!" From a streamlined canon mounted on the arm, Vulcan fire rained on the hapless Flag, riddling its slender body relentlessly, shredding holes clean through the cockpit. Defeated, the once proud Flag fell limp against the crater in the wall.

Lifeless.

"ONE DOWN!-

_"GUNDAM!"_

Caerlise's eyes widened at the sound of the enemy voice across the com channel. "… Zenna?"

Zenna's eyes widened in anger and astonishment.

That trash!  
That lowly… _TRASH_!  
How was it _she_ was in a superior mobile suit?  
That…

_"TRASH!"_ the com shouted as the flag bolted forward and made a short aerial hop, kicking out a slender leg at the white mobile suit.

The Gundam's head racked up hard as it staggered backwards, its precision auto balance systems doing their job well. The conical drive behind it belched more blue particles as the machine regained its composure, eying the UN Flag toss aside it's ranged weapon.

"I'LL KILL YOU SO HELP ME GOD!" Zenna shouted as the Flag ignited its plasma-progressive knife and blasted forward, colliding hard with the Gundam.

Lise swore and barely commanded the Gundam to grab the Flag's wrist, keeping the dual beam and physical weapon at bay high in the air. "HEY!"

_"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM ANYWAY? YOU JUST SHOT AT-_

Zenna shut off the communications link once again. Even her hair seemed on livid end. "Daddy I'll kill them, Daddy I'll kill them, Daddy I'll kill them, Daddy I'll _kill_ them, Daddy I'll _kill_ them, Daddy I'll _kill_ them, _Daddy_ I'll _kill_ them…

Daddy…

"I'LL KILL THEM ALL!"

The Flag swung it's free fist at the Gundam's cockpit-

In mid-swing, a blazing pink pillar of plasma sliced clean through the Flag's arm as the Gundam blasted forward, pinning the one armed Flag against the remains of its comrade. The Beam saber it held crackled ravenously down at its side and gently extinguished.

Lise's eyes were wide at the sheer destructive power that was literally at her fingertips; her breathing was fast and shallow and the adrenaline high was purely intoxicating. She couldn't even recall fully how the Mobile Suit deployed the beam weapon in the first place. Such… power…

Caerlise's sudden awareness of her breathing rate slammed into her. The girl blinked hard and closed her eyes, forcing herself to calm down. She knew she had hotblood, but she also knew how to keep her wits about her when it truly mattered.

The girl's gaze snapped back up and forward at the 270 degree monitor. She couldn't have cared less even if she had been behind the wheel of a go-kart at this very moment. She still would do whatever it took to keep her precious loved ones safe.

Gundam or no Gundam. It made no difference, and she wasn't going to back down.

The white bastard slammed its crowned head into the Flag's own, gentler this time, opening static touch communications.

"Zenna! I know that's you, don't hide! What the _hell's_ going on? You opened fire on us! We're civilians! We're your fellow CLASSMATES!"

Kaino could hear every word Caerlise spoke, but he was unable to respond. "I can't believe that hotheaded girl is behind that thing!" he exclaimed. "… So I'm gonna die at her hands…" he grinned despite the situation. How ironic, considering how he felt about her…

"You're my FELLOW classmates?" Zenna retorted irately. "That implies we're EQUALS!" her bared teeth seethed with a near genetic hatred. "You all are nothing but TRASH TO ME!"

Lise sneered as the Gundam clamped its hand tighter, snapping the Flag's metal bound wrist. The melee weapon it held died out and clattered to the ground. "Awful big words coming from someone who's beaten!"

Zenna's brow furrowed, her anger and frustration reaching their climax. "Nothing but TRASH! Do you realize the sheer quality of life that was WASTED ON YOU? YOU AND YOUR LITTLE _SHITS_?"

Communications ended abruptly when the Gundam buried the reignited beam saber, to the hilt, in the Flag's head. Before the beam even touched metal, the Flag's head warbled and sagged from the intense heat with a cowardly grace. In a swarm of blue, the Gundam slid backwards and leveled the forearm Vulcan once again-

**BARZAMM!**

Lise's eyes snapped over to the far left of the wide view monitor at the ship whose conical drives were brimming the same color blue as the Gundam's own. There was a rather large blast hole near the end of the hangar where there once stood twin shutters.

_"Lise! They've got a swarm of Flags headed down below here! We're toast if we stay!"_

"Jidane! We're civilian they'll understa-

_"I really wish you thought that through BEFORE you destroyed TWO of their suits!"_

Jidane's hands danced across the flight control panel of the _Pythagoras_. He was amazed at how old-school, yet up to date the technology was. It was remarkably easy for him to pilot. He looked over at Kyrie who sat with a semi frightened look on her face at the Navigation and Communications station. "Hang tight K, we'll get outta this mess!"

"I know!" she responded with doubt in her voice. "This is all so much though-

_She felt emotion. Embarrassment and anger at a botched mission.  
She felt emotion. Confusion as to what to make of new comrades.  
She felt emotion. Determination to achieve the mission objective, no matter what._

"Just… try not to think about it!" he said with a forced, reassuring laugh, turning back around to the control deck.

Caerlise eyed the two wrecked MS and uttered a guttural sigh. Sure enough on the enemy counter numerous red blips were peppering the screen. "Time to husky-daddle outta here," she said as the Gundam turned and boosted over towards the opening rear hatch of the ship. She stole a glance back at the totaled Flags.

"…"

Her expression wasn't anger. It wasn't frustration.

It was worry. Worry and concern.

Not for the situation, per say...

It was for the pilot of that Flag. All that rage she heard in the person's voice. All that rage in her heart…

"…Zenna…"

Lise looked forward as the Gundam stepped hard into the large docking bay and walked forward. "Whoa!" she exclaimed as the Auto Systems took over and docked the MS in the center of the vast bay. She stole a look using the video monitors. Everywhere there were what seemed to be spare parts on automated assembly racks along the walls and floor. Green parts, red parts… up above was a weapons rack with long and short range weaponry, all sporting either a red or green color scheme. "Heh… I wonder…" the girl muttered as she pulled her hand I/O out of its socket, the action jarring her memory. "Hey Akio get that one from below would ya-

The dazed boy was out cold… his face right in between her legs with what could very well be a mouthful of her exposed periwinkle pink panties... and the goods behind them.

Caerlise's typically attractive, turned up nose flared widely as she breathed in deeply; her adrenaline high reignited in an instant.

"DUMBASS!"

_..._

* * *

-...-

The duo walked onto the bridge of the _Pythagoras_, both sweaty and bloody. Lise had ripped up her skirt and used the remains for a makeshift bandage for her leg and hand. She didn't extend the same hospitality to the bleeding redhead however.

"Caerlise! God what the hell happened?" Jidane exclaimed as he ran his fingers through his hair. His wide eyes took in the sheer sorry state his lifelong friend was in. "Ahh-

"Are you serious? Man you shoulda seen me right after I had that spill on my bike haha!" She punctuated her lighthearted joke by punching the redhead beside her hard in the back on the head. She was all smiles.

Jidane sighed heavily as he turned to look out the front of the ship. Plowing along the length of the dark tunnel, the map readouts listed them as being just past San Diego, headed west. "This entire ship is just crazy… everything about it is so intuitive and runs like a dream." He looked back her way. "And how did you learn to pilot a Mobile Suit like that? Not from me!" the boy laughed. The situation was so tense… it actually felt good to laugh.

"Yeah it's a long story, believe me-

_GWOOOSH! _

"And now we're in the Pacific Ocean… this is just unreal…" Jidane said as he turned to the map screen, eying the side windows of the bridge. All around was pitch black water… the pristine waters of the Pacific Ocean at early morning. All he could to was just shake his head. It had all happened so fast, it seemed second nature at the time… now the enormity of it all was finally settling in for the boy.

"The hell? We're under water?" Lise asked aloud as she peered out the side, taking in the black sight. The only illumination came from the Ship's powerful forward search lights.

"Hey man wow! This is super sweet isn't it?" the Redhead exclaimed with glee.

"No, it's not," Jidane said, ever the voice of annoyed reason. "For one, we're in a _Celestial Being_ ship. Two, WE'RE IN A _CELESTIAL BEING_ SHIP." The boy shook his head and ran a hand down his sweaty face. He paused for a moment, looking back at the duo. "Three, we're now enemies of the Earth Federation because we totaled two of their Mobile Suits." He turned to look at Akio, "So you know, I take that back. Yeah, this is pretty super _fucking _sweet," he finished, dripping with sarcasm.

"Four."

The trio looked over at Kyrie who leveled a small gun at the group.

"You've tampered with items and circumstances you have no business with," she said as a matter of fact.

"Kyrie! What the hell, chick?" Caerlise started as she took a step forward. "Stop playin' around-

The way Kyrie's deep blue eyes now glistened an eerie, otherworldly iridescent gold made everyone's heart stop.

"The only ones who have been _playing_ are you three."

Jidane's brow twitched. She was acting so… cold… Those eyes…

Akio slowly raised his hands in surrender. He didn't know how crazy that woman could be…

"You there," Kyrie started, leveling the gun at Caerlise. "You were not authorized to pilot that mobile suit. State your name!"

Caerlise's honey brown eyes narrowed as she slowly held her hands up. Something wasn't right. Whoever that was pointing a gun at her… it wasn't Kyrie. She uttered a guttural sigh, answering with attitude. "The name's Caerlise Alna. Just who the hell are you?"

Kyrie's gaze never faltered. "My name is-

Tieria Erde."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: In Anticipation of Your**  
**Future Prosperity**

**

* * *

**

Kaino reached down deep below his seat to grasp the emergency hatch release. As nimbly as his fingers allowed, he gave a sharp tug. The piercing "_crank!"_ of the emergency escape mechanism rang through his eardrums; instantly he could feel the cooler air in the mysterious hangar bay rushing into the cockpit.

The 18 year old scuttled out from the barely cracked cockpit, surveying the damage to his mobile suit. Nothing but sparking wires and grievously melted body work where the head _used_ to be.

Nice.

The Flag's right arm lay dead in a twisted heap by its side; the left manipulator assembly was severed cleanly though the forearm. He gazed over at the other mangled Flag…

That one was an utter lost cause.

Gingerly the boy scaled across the Flag's torso over to the other end of the cockpit area, reaching for the external hatch release. He jerked up sharply on the handle and gave a half turn with his wrist, jerking up hard again, followed by a full turn. With one final yank, the hatch popped open. Using his body as a jack, the slender boy opened the hatch fully, taking in the pathetic state of his co pilot.

There Zenna laid, her flight helmet cast aside. She lounged to the side of her seat, cradling herself with her arms, her face swathed with a lazy, apathetic expression of pouting hate. Long since dried, her eyes were still deep red from crying. Kaino's brow fell. For an instant, Kaino cursed the girl silently; it was still hard for him to believe she was given top rank in _Valiant-Garde._ As it was, Kaino himself had two more years of practical military experience under his belt with the Union, compared to the girl who only recently joined the Earth Federation Forces after the _A-Laws_ Conflict. Either way, to see his superior in such a state… The words of insanity she spoke earlier rang through his mind repeatedly. He still couldn't grasp the reality of it all. He stood back and looked over at the destroyed wall. "They managed to get out…" he whispered softly, remembering the video monitor's capture of the defiant look on Caerlise's face throughout the entire ordeal. The boy's deep purple eyes tracked back to his S.O. as he stepped forward to hoist her out of the cockpit. It had been a good half hour since they last radioed in before coming down there.

Reinforcements were already enroute.

_..._

* * *

-...-

The girl's gaze was dead set on Kyrie, her bottom lip working in a slow, thoughtful manner.

Absolutely _NONE_ of this made any sense.

"… Come again?" Lise started with a challenging grin. "Sorry, you lost me in that sea of _vowels_-

_KCHICK!_

The snow head leveled the gun again, her gaze hardening. "I am Tieria Erde, Gundam Meister for _Celestial Being_," she stated flatly, her iridescent eyes shifting over to the two boys, "the lot of you have witnessed too many of our secrets and must be terminated."

Akio's mind went blank for an instant. "Wait, where the hell did you get a gun-

The shorter girl girl swung her arm to point the gun squarely between the boy's eyes.

"Gaah-I'm sorry!"

"W-wait a minute" Jidane stammered as he took a step forward.

The girl pivoted her arm again towards the dark skinned kid. The gun rang out loudly, leaving a smoking bullet hole inches from the boy's foot.

"That's ENOUGH!" Lise shouted back through gritted teeth. "You're gonna get someone killed!"

"If such is the case, then that cannot be helped," the bleach head stated flatly. "I've taken control of this Innovade's body for-AHHHHHH!"

"Kyrie!" Lise shouted as the girl doubled over in visible pain, clutching her head in agony.

The ship slammed _HARD_ into an object and lurched to the side, tossing everyone asunder.

_"Chance!"_ Caerlise whispered with an artful dodge towards the flailing girl.

Kyrie's deep blue eyes screamed agony as they gently flickered that iridescent hue. Through gritted teeth she aimed and fired the gun at the dashing brunette.

Lise winced as the blood splattered across her neck; she had her right hand clamped down hard on the gun barrel. The girl gritted her teeth and drew the gun barrel up and to the side, a bullet hole cleanly formed through her bandaged right hand. Her damaged hand torqued down tighter on the gun, never faltering.

The ship lurched again, causing the two girls to tumble down on top of one another. Lise ripped her arm out wide to fling the weapon aside.

_**MOOOWOWOWOOOON…**_

The sudden bass hum emanating from outside the submerged space carrier drew everyone's attention.

"LISE!" Jidane shouted, seeing the red spray of blood from the confrontation.

"Holy shit guys! We just hit a whale!" Akio exclaimed in surprise, making out the white markings of a giant Blue whale through the Bridge window, beating a hasty retreat.

Caerlise flipped hard, pinning Kyrie beneath her, the both of them a bloody mess. "Kyrie!" She watched the girl's blue eyes flicker golden as she continued to struggle beneath her weight.

Jidane dashed over and held the girl's legs down watching in horror as she fought to free herself.

"ALRIGHT!" Akio leveled the bloody gun at the snow head with a resounding "_click_."

The girl looked up to stare down the barrel, her golden eyed tirade finally dying down.

Caerlise gingerly picked herself off her friend, staggering back to catch her breath. "Just what the hell did you do to Kyrie?"

"Put that gun away moron!" Jidane shouted, standing up fast and batting Akio's hand away.

"Dude she's gone crazy! She was gonna kill us all!"

Lise placed her foot gently on Kyrie's chest, applying just enough pressure to keep her subdued. The blood from her leg started anew, gently trickling down her toned, tan thigh. "Alright 'Tieria Erde,'" she started, holding her dripping right hand behind her and out of the way. She bent down and hoisted Kyrie up and "roughly" tossed her onto the Navigation control seat. "Talk. NOW."

The white haired girl looked away with a scowl, eying the tough brunette. "I've already told you more than what I'm permitted to." She looked at the two boys, particularly the one holding the gun. "This ship and the white mobile suit are property of _Celestial Being_!" She punctuated the statement by pushing her glasses up back to their proper position.

Jidane tensed up. "We figured that much. What the hell did you do to Kyrie?" he said angrily, slamming his hands down on the seat's arm rests, putting his face right before the "hostage."

"Kyrie Lazon. She is an Innovade whose body I've taken over."

Jidane's brow furrowed in ignorance.

"Hmmph! The only reason is to ensure you three don't hand over this ship's secrets to the Earth Federation!"

"Nice," Lise started, ripping another strip off of her now miniskirt, bandaging her hand once again. The bullet had gone clean through the flesh between her thumb and index finger; luckily the I/O connector cable was undamaged. "Well you better give her back, otherwise so help me god-

"It seems you all will never understand." Kyrie sighed angrily. "Very well. I, Tieria Erde exist within the supercomputer Veda." She eyed Lise. "As such, I have a direct link to this girl's mind-

"ENOUGH!" Lise grabbed the girl's collar, pausing for a moment. She didn't want to hurt her…

"I don't… I don't understand this… Arrr… WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Jidane cried out, running his fingers through his hair.

"Open your minds!" Kyrie shouted angrily. "We're all wasting time arguing like this!"

Akio observed everything, his eyes playing between everyone. "Man… this is some weird shit… So you like… mind-hacked her or somethin'?"

Kyrie looked his way. "_Something,_ yes."

"How about _un-hacking_ her!" Lise barked, her eyes livid with frustration.

"I will, as soon as you surrender over to me-

"Fine. I surrender." Lise stated flatly, throwing her hands in the air. "Jesus that was fucking simple, wasn't it?"

Kyrie looked at her in amazement.

"...This isn't the time for games!" the short girl growled angrily. "By now the Earth Federation's scoured the underground hanger…" Kyrie's eyes seemed to look past Caerlise's own, peering into a vast void. Just as quickly, her glowing gold eyes refocused, "Luckily all the data pertaining to this ship and mobile unit were purged upon activation."

Caerlise let loose a guttural growl, her frustration reaching the breaking point-

"Wait." Jidane shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the situation, "So you're saying… You called her an Innovade… Just what IS an 'Innovade?'"

Kyrie looked dead at him. Her eyes seemed so piercing! Without a doubt, there was another personality peering back at him past those eyes. "Your friend was an access terminal and data collection unit for Veda."

The trio looked at her, dumbfounded. Kyrie looked down and laughed. "I can imagine it being hard for you to grasp, but as an Innovade living an everyday life, Kyrie Lazon, as she is known to you all, was channeling information regarding humanity and human interaction straight into Veda's processing banks." She looked up, meeting everyone's gaze. "The purpose of this was to allow Veda to constantly monitor mankind's development. There exist millions of Innovades throughout society and various ethnical cultures."

Lise shook her head. "Look I don't care about all that shit. Jesus you're sounding like _this _wackjob!" she punctuated, pointing a thumb Akio's way.

"Hey!"

"At any rate, you three must-GAAA HAAAAAAA!" The girl cut herself off by emitting a feral scream of pain, clutching her head.

"What the hell's goin on with her?" Akio stammered as he leveled the gun once again.

"KYRIE!" Jidane fell to his knees and supported the writhing girl. Beneath her snow white hair he could see her eyes flickering and flashing deep blue.

With a final cry of anguish, the girl threw her head back and fell limp into the chair, breathing hard.

_ "Wh-WHAT? How could-_

The male voice boomed over the ship's com system, obvious surprise in his voice.

"Kyrie!" Lise held the girl's heaving shoulders, feeling the sweat pouring through her shirt.

"Heh…" The snow head managed to laugh, a challenging yet tired grin crossing her face.

"Where's that voice commin' from?" Akio yelped, looking around like a madman. "Ahh man, don't tell me there's GHOSTS on this thing!"

_"… You! Access Denied?" _ The voice truly sounded bewildered. _ "But Veda-_

"No matter what you say or do…" Kyrie started, her voice slowly regaining strength, "my body… is my OWN!"

Lise looked at her tired yet defiant expression. She couldn't help but grin. That was the spirit!

"Kyrie, what did-

"Everything he said was true," the girl interrupted Jidane, gingerly sitting up straighter. "I managed to lock him out of my mind." She looked over at Jidane, a faint smile across her face. "Call it a reverse-hack!"

Jidane could feel his eyes watering. Quickly he fought back the tears, happy to know she was alright.

"Tieria Erde," Kyrie said, a newfound passion in her voice, "If what you really want is to keep your secrets from the EF, then I think we should work together."

The com said nothing.

"Mr. Erde!" Kyrie shouted angrily, addressing the male voice.

_"Very well." _ The ship's control panels performed like automated clockwork, checking and double checking the ship's as well as the white mobile suit's status. _"It would seem that is the only op- what?"_

Kyrie rapidly typed away at the Nav console as numerous documents began to download on the screen before her.

_"You… __**hacked**__ Veda?"_ The voice demanded angrily.

"_Something_, yes!" Kyrie retorted, motioning for everyone to gather around as numerous documents filed down.

_ "That is CLASSIFIED informa-_

"Mr. Erde, you don't have anywhere else to go. As long as you're locked into the ship's data banks, even you can't regain access to VEDA!" Kyrie challenged a grin of revenge across her face.

_"What?"_ The com went silent. It was true! _"You LOCKED me out! How DARE you-_

"And locked you _IN_. That's payback for taking my body…"

"Hear that, Vowels?" Caerlise taunted, "I still dunno what this is all about, but don't mess with us!"

_"You-_

Kyrie turned to Jidane, "When you have the chance, take a look at this. I don't really understand it all but… it's got all sorts of information about this ship and the mobile suit… and _Celestial Being_."

"Right," the boy affirmed with a nod. "Maybe I can finally start to understand just what the heck's going on around here…"

"Uh Guys? GUYS?" Akio's voice tinged with concern as he eyed the main readout at the Tactical Station. Numerous red blips were gently coming into range. "We got a situation over here!"

The trio looked his way, their faces collectively souring at the thought of more confrontation. "Jesus can't we catch a break here?" Lise muttered angrily, noting the various icons on the screen. "What are those… ships?

"Must be Naval Flag Carriers… _great!_" Jidane shook his head, letting loose an exasperated sigh. "Maybe we should just surrender-

_ "ABSOLUTELY OUT OF THE QUESTION!"_ Tieria shouted across the com channel. _"Like it or not, your top priority is the defense of this vessel and its mobile suit, do you understand?"_

Lise grimaced at the thought of taking orders from this "Tieria Erde," but her friend's lives were in danger.

The ship rocked HARD from an explosion in the water a few hundred meters away.

_"They're using depth charges," _Tieria stated as an external camera view of numerous exploding balls of energy popped up on the main bridge screen.

"So the answer's obvious!" Akio shouted loudly as he sat down at the pilot controls, ripping the control "handles" back hard. Instantly the _Pythagoras_ lurched upward, blasting at break neck speed towards the surface.

"NO YOU IDIOT!" Jidane's shout was muffled by the two girl's shrieks of surprise as they all tumbled backwards.

_"FOOL!"_ Tieria was helpless to observe the majestic _Pythagoras_' depth gauge rapidly increase in the positive.

* * *

"… THERE! CAPTAIN I SEE THE ENEMY SHIP!" the bridge scout barked. The Captain's ears perked onboard the _E.F.N. Clydesdale. _His eyes grew wide as he spotted the sparkling blue, white and silver ship knife its way out of the pristine waters. Against the backdrop of the early morning, it was such a sight to see.

"Heh! Old tactics, _Celestial Being_!" The captain grinned, remembering the combat reports submitted roughly a year ago, dictating a similar escape style from the Anti-War group. "It's been a while since we last heard from you… FLAG SQUADRONS! OPEN FIRE! TAKE DOWN THAT SHIP!"

High in the morning sky, numerous flash bursts could be seen as the blue and white EF Flag Fighters transformed into MS mode and immediately pelted the approaching space ship relentlessly with beam rifle fire.

* * *

"SHIT!" Lise shouted, noting a platoon of Flags releasing their payload of missiles.

_ "WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING? Direct all GN Particles to the GN field!"_ Tieria barked. Frustration wasn't the word. Those kids would compromise everything!

"How the hell do we do that?" Lise shouted back, holding on for dear life.

The _Pythagoras_ glowed blue as a shell of shimmering azure particles instantly formed about its perimeter, absorbing all attacks effortlessly.

"Already done!" Kyrie shouted back from her station. "I don't know how long it will last though!"

Lise's eyes were wide in awe. How did she know what to do?

"OH YEAH!" Akio laughed as the ship banked hard, plowing into a hapless Flag, "WE'RE FLYIN' NOW!"

"MORON! WHY THE HELL DID YOU TAKE US OUT OF THE WATER?" Lise shouted, looking to see Jidane barely clinging onto the tactical station seat. "Shit!" The girl kicked hard off the chair she clung to and stumbled out of the bridge, headed to the Mobile Suit bay. "Goddamn IDIOTS! If they just want this damn thing… ARRRG!"

* * *

A sudden explosion nearly flung her off the bay's edge but she clung onto the guard rail for dear life. "I swear when we get out of this…" She dashed over to the open cockpit of the Gundam and sat inside, her back growing cold from the still wet blood which covered the seat. "Here we go again!"

The Cockpit closed tightly as the girl reached past her bandages and reconnected the control sockets to her hand and Leg. In the few moments it took for the Heads-Up Display to come online, she got a good look at the monitor layouts.

Gundam Status  
Weapons Status  
Targeting Status  
Enemy Status  
Ally Status  
DRC

"DRC?" the girl muttered, taking the time to fasten herself in securely while noting a throbbing blue gauge which hovered around 30% She heard the spiraling hum of the Conical Drive behind her sing to critical life, drenching the bay with a torrent of blue particles. The Gundam raised its head and flashed its 'baby blues.'

All Systems Green.

* * *

The bridge was a veritable circus with Tieria barking orders which no one seemed to follow, Akio's crazy piloting ability, and the numerous Flag Fighters dodging artfully to and fro, slowly whittling away at the ship.

_"Jidane! Open the hatch!"_ The boy's ears perked at the sound of her voice over the com. "LISE?"

* * *

"Just DO IT!" She shouted, watching the back of the bay slowly open, revealing the crystal clear blue morning skies. The Gundam's monitors automatically dimmed in the bright sunlight, hardening so as to give the best view possible. The Mobile Suit increased the particle output from its cone drive and boosted out of the bay.

Lise eyed the altimeter which slowly dropped, despite the constant belching of blue particles. "C'mon… FLY DAMMIT!"

Flags swarmed about the gently falling white mobile suit, pelting it with beam fire which casually glanced off its white armor panels. Lise skillfully dodged the attacks, leveling the forearm Vulcan.

Beads of bullets streamed from the weapon's arm, shredding Flags left and right, all the while falling modestly through the sky. Lise checked her monitors for the slowly disappearing _Pythagoras_. "SHIT!"

_"Lise!"_

"Jidane! Any HELP HERE?"

_ "That Gundam can't fly!_

"NO SHIT SHERLOCK!"

_ "No! I mean all you can do is glide for a short period of time! That's not a normal GN drive so it can't sustain flight!"_

"So what the hell do I do?" She shouted back, aiming and firing hard.

* * *

Jidane scrolled through the electronic documents at his station, reading as fast as he could in the face of the tumult. "I-I don't…!" His eyes grew wide at the information. Despite the situation, his engineering mind sparked. "LISE! USE WHATEVER'S CALLED THE DYNAMIC REACTION CELL!"

* * *

"RIGHT! LEMME JUST PULL THAT OUTTA MY _ASS!_" the girl angrily shouted as the Gundam dodged hard and swung around to fire at the closing enemy.

…

_Empty!_

"SHIT!" The girl swore as the Gundam quickly drew its pink beam saber, slashing HARD across a Flag's beam rifle, the weapon going up instantly in an explosion. The Gundam bit down and charged forward, spearing the Flag in the chest. With a swoon of blue particles, the Gundam blasted onward, ripping the plasma blade through the Flag cleanly and proceeded to engage yet another one as the suit succumbed to a harsh explosion.

The girl eyed a timer beside the Beam Saber Status icon. "Three minutes? Damn I didn't notice that BEFORE!" she punctuated by slicing the flag's arm off, blasting along to engage another. "JIDANE! WHAT THE HELL IS A DYNAMIC WHATEVER?"

_"It's the DRC! It should allow-_

_

* * *

_

**TRIAL TRIAL TRIAL TRIAL TRIAL TRIAL**

**

* * *

**

The Gundam's cockpit glowed red as klaxons blared loudly. Across every screen the word 'TRIAL' flashed as the spiraling whine of the drive died down, a modest number of blue particles steadily draining out.

_"That is enough from you."_

"Tieria!" Caerlise answered in surprise. "What the-

A Flag rammed into the Gundam's back, halting her. It rudely delivered a swift kick to the back of the head and leveled its bull pup, taking rapid, near point-blank fire at the white bastard.

Each searing round racked the Gundam's frame, finally leaving a good set of dents and damage along its backside.

"SHIT! TIERIA!" The girl worked the mental controls vigorously. "MOVE DAMMIT!"

_ "There's no use. It took some time but I finally got past that girl's encryption."_

_

* * *

_

Kyrie stared at her readout at the Navigation console, a look of determined fervor on her face.

_"While it isn't the true TRIAL system, I now have full control of this Mobile Suit"_ Tieria stated flatly, his voice ringing over the ship's intercom.

_"At the very least, this Gundam will be destroyed by their forces… one less secret to worry about,"_ the voice stated.

* * *

Lise gritted her teeth angrily as another flag rammed into the Gundam, lodging its beam rifle snugly against the white bastard's torso.

**BARZAAAM!**

The pink shaft of biting energy ate through the flag in an instant, erasing its twisting body with an all consuming rage. Without hesitating, more beam cannon fire belched from the top of the _Pythagoras_ and into the enemy fray, driving them out and away from the stranded white mobile suit.

_"Tieria Erde!"_ Kyrie's voice was strong across the Gundam's com channel. Lise's ears perked, noting the shrill target lock tone which drilled into her skull. _"We've locked every weapon onto that mobile suit! We'll blast you out of the sky unless you unlock the system!"_

_

* * *

_

Kyrie's brow was awash with sweat. Tense…

"Hey Switch with me!" Jidane practically shoved the redhead boy from the pilot seat and opened up the document files once more, juggling the task of flying the ship and evading enemy fire.

Akio's fingers rubbed along the gunnery triggers once he plopped down. "Oh yeah! I'm itching to blow something else up!" The auto beam turrets spat fire intermittently at any EF suit which strayed too close to the GN encased ship.

* * *

_ "Do what you will. Either way, this mobile suit's secrets will be erased. PERMANENTLY!" _the male countered.

_ "So will you!"_

_ "What?"_

Caerlise grinned, glad her mate got the one up. She wasn't scared to die in the least… she only regretted how her friends might hold up without her…

* * *

"That backup file you left on board the _Pythagoras_… I deleted it!"

_"That's nothing-_

"Wrong!" Kyrie's blue eyes flashed, "When you were inside my head, I also got to see your secrets too. I know that for you to even be anywhere within the network of this ship and that Gundam, you'd have to upload yourself 100% either way! No proxies to hide behind… your entire core is inside that Gundam's OS!"

* * *

_"There's no jumping ship for you."_

The brunette nodded her head in approval "Great job Kyrie! Ya hear that Vowels?"

_ "WHAT?"_

"Yeah!" Lise lowered her head eying a duo of Flags doubling back to make another strike, five more banking hard to rain hell on the carrier ship. "Watch it… she'll do it too…"

**BARZAAM!**

Another cover blast took out both Flags simultaneously. Caerlise eyed the altimeter. The Gundam fell past a cloud bank, the churning waters of the Pacific growing nearer by the second.

_"I've done my part for the benefit of Celestial Being. For my comrades! I've already died my death! Anything further now, means-_

_ "And don't you think they all want to see you again? Tieria?"_ Kyrie's voice was bathed in sympathy. _"Don't you remember? All of them… Soran, Lyle, Allelujah, Leesa... Marie, Mileina, Ian, and Lasse! Even Saji!"_

_

* * *

_

Kyrie's eyes softened, "If there was any way I could cheat death to see my friends again… I would do it in a heartbeat!"

* * *

The male voice sounded his hesitance. Whatever AI, be it conscious or unconscious, that was communicating across the channels was definitely mulling over past thoughts and experiences.

_ "Just what were you all fighting for? The Future, right? A Future created by you and your friends for the benefit of all life! What's the point…?"_

_

* * *

_

Kyrie slammed her fist down hard onto the panel before her, "What's the point in all that if you don't LIVE to see that future WITH them?"

Akio and Jidane looked back at the girl's passionate outburst. "Kyrie…" Jidane had no idea who the people were she named, but he had never heard her like this before. Such heart…

_ "… I-_

_

* * *

_

"JUST LISTEN TO HER, DUMBASS!" Lise shouted in annoyance, breaking the mood.

The red glow of the cockpit died away; at the same time all view screens and panel readouts switched normal. All systems green.

_"Caerlise Alna," _Tieria started, his voice nearly drowned out by the spiraling energy hum, _"… return to the Pythagoras any way you can."_

"Well I woulda done it sooner!" she retorted snidely. The Gundam leveled its descent slightly and reignited its beam saber, slicing clean through an encroaching Flag.

* * *

"Lise! Use the DRC system!" Jidane shouted as the _Pythagoras_ pitched hard, dodging a stream of missile fire.

* * *

"You said that before! HOW THE HELL DO I DO IT?"

_ "Get the DRC gauge past 50%! I'm not exactly sure HOW it works, but it should give you the power boost needed to actually fly!" _the com squawked.

Caerlise eyed the gauge as she felt her adrenaline start to pump into overdrive. "So how the hell do I get it to go up?"

* * *

"There should be an activation switch on the right control stick-GAH!" The boy banked the ship hard right, colliding head on with a Flag fighter, bursting it into flames. The GN field surrounding the ship flickered and finally went offline

_"What if there aren't any controls?"_

"WHAT? Shit!" The boy tried to juggle two problems at once. They were sitting ducks out there!

* * *

Lise shook her head. No time to explain.

_"What are you waiting for? Activate the Dynamic Reaction Cell!"_ Tieria barked as three more Flags came into view, leveling their beam rifles.

"I'M WORKIN' ON IT!" the Brunette snapped back, her hands trembling. If she couldn't pull this off…

NO!

She _WOULD_ do it. She made it this far. And her friends…

If she died, who would protect them?

"That's not gonna happen…" she seethed through gritted teeth, eyes closed.

Jidane.

Kyrie.

"RAAAAA! THAT IS NOT… AN OPTION!" With a defiant shout, the blue DRC gauge slammed up to 65%, wavering strongly.

The entire Gundam's frame shuddered violently as the cockpit became awash with blue light. It pulsated in timely banded streaks as more and more blue particles sprayed from the back of the now glowing blue conical drive.

The white and silver mobile suit phased a deep shimmering blue as more and more particles careened across the aerial battlefield. The glowing blue Gundam's eyes sweltered deep azure, three times as brightly as before.

* * *

"Look at that light!" Jidane shouted as the attacking Flags focused their attention on the glowing suit, blue GN particles dancing all about the sky.

With a resounding burst of energy, the blue suit zipped upwards into the sky like a reborn sapphire comet, slicing hard into an unfortunate Flag fighter, rending it in two with it's now blazing red beam saber.

* * *

_ "It's like from before!"_ A Flag pilot shouted across the com channel. All the data seemed to semi-support it. Blazing red Gundam Type suits… but this one was blue! Comparatively, it wasn't moving nearly as fast either. The Flag's data systems showed that it was flying around at about the same speed and agility as the Close Quarters Combat Gundam Model from roughly seven years ago. The Flag knifed through the torrent of blue particles towards the shimmering suit, its beam rifle blazing.

* * *

Caerlise guided the Gundam up higher, closing on the enemy in a matter of seconds as the remaining Flags dodged and put ample room in between themselves and this blue beast. The girl stole a glance at the Beam Saber Status. The timer now read '99:99:99.' "C'MERE!" she shouted at a far away Flag shooting from its hip. The MS transformed and bolted away, the Blue Gundam fast on its tail. It was over for the suit before the pilot knew what attacked.

The glowing saber sweltered the air behind the flag as it sheared apart before the blood red plasma blade even connected. The Gundam's head whipped around to see the mother ship a good 4 kilometers away. Lise's eyes grew wide at the magnified image of the ship.

Fast encroaching was one Flag unit.

The ship was a sitting duck!

There was no way she could get there in time, even with this speed boost! Her thoughts were a blur, but nothing registered. Her comrades….

Her _friends_!

* * *

"Jesus look at that thing GO!" Akio shouted in awestruck surprise, observing the carnage set in the sea of blue specks. "Holy-GAAH!"

The lone Flag managed to slip past the _Pythagoras_'s frontal defenses and leveled its missile rack at the Bridge windows. Locked on target.

"Oh my God!" Kyrie's eyes grew wide in terror. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle straight. "… Caerlise…"

* * *

Inside the Gundam, Lise wanted to scream but couldn't find the voice. Her brain and mouth weren't communicating properly. Only one instinctual and primal thought fired across her synapses:

Protect them.  
Protect. Them.

PROTECT. THEM.

The Gundam shuddered violently, erupting into a deeper glistening blue hue as the DRC gauge broke 80%. Across the glowing control panel screen, text flashed in bright black letters:

**K.I.W.I. DRIVE SYSTEM: ACTIVE**

**

* * *

**

_**THAWHAAM!**_

The crew watched as the Gundam's scarlet saber ravaged into the Flag's head, slicing it from top to bottom. Jidane was taken aback by the sudden attack. He was speechless.

The high definition cameras behind the Blue suit's blazing eye covers pivoted to looked upward.

* * *

_Another Flag one kilometer away._  
Giving a hard slash with the saber, the enemy suit was rendered in two.

_High above, 1.5 kilometers away; another Flag._  
With a hard flick of the wrist, the saber collided with the Flag's torso.

_Far aft of the ship, five kilometers away a lone flag doubling back for another pass._  
The Gundam's saber reamed the suit in two from the bottom up.

_One last Flag, 3 kilometers below the ship, turning to make a tactical retreat._  
The Gundam shoved its glowing sapphire hand forward against the Flag's chest, halting its movement in an instant. With one fluid motion the Blue suit stabbed the Flag squarely in the chest, spinning hard to slash outward.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Each Flag exploded well within one second of each other.

_"What… is this?"_ Tieria asked out loud. The battle data was mind boggling!

* * *

"…All of the EF's forces… they're wiped out!" Jidane whispered in awe. He couldn't believe what he just saw. Across such great distances, the blue suit dispatched the Flags within seconds of each other.

Impossible!

The cobalt Gundam turned and zipped across the sky to the waiting _Pythagoras_, its blue haze slowly dying down. The snow white and silver Gundam's upward momentum gently slowed as the ship's suit bay opened up to accept the weary warrior once again.

Caerlise shook her head, unsure of what to make of the experience. "What the hell was that all about? Talk about one crazy-ass ride…" she whispered as the Gundam lurched, the auto systems taking over once again.

The sweaty brunette let her head thud on seat's headrest, the strong odor of sizzling bacon wafting into her nostrils. She glanced at the DRC gauge, now settled comfortably at 30% once again. Her mind worked furiously. All she could remember was dispatching those flags in different ways. She couldn't explain how or when it all happened, but it did. All throughout the cockpit, the alluring scent of cooking meat wafted about.

The mobile suit parked solidly and the wrap-around video panels died out as the blast doors and cockpit opened up wide, a welcome gust of cool air rushing over the girl. Her mind was still drawing nothing but blanks as she gazed ahead at the sealing bay doors. She was so hungry… Hungry for something salty and meaty… whatever was cooking-

The girl's conscious finally acknowledged the burning odor. She sniffed curiously, her eyes growing wide in surprise. "Are you kidding me? Ahh… hell!" She looked down at her smoking cybernetic parts, all well visible within the sizzling artificial blood and muscle work of her legs and arm. "Must've gunned the engine too hard…" she muttered with an exasperated expression. "Dammit!"

_..._

* * *

-...-

Caerlise eyed the strange ball-shaped robot giving her arm and legs a quick once over. It had taken about 1 hour in total for the little guy to perform repairs to her system and another 3 for the cellular regeneration unit in the infirmary to fully heal her botched wounds. The girl sat on the modest bed inside the single person room in only her periwinkle pink panties.

"I guess having all that artificial meat paid off eh? Haha!" It felt good to laugh after all that headache. It helped that the flesh needing repair was partially artificial; had it been 100% true home-grown organic material, it could have taken days to regenerate.

_"Almost done! Almost done!"_ the robot chimed. If it hadn't been for Tieria informing the "crew" about the little Haro robots and the physical repair capabilities of the _Pythagoras_, Lise would have still been in pretty bad shape. It was a cute little thing, that Haro. Pea green and roughly the size of a soccer ball, it had retractable legs and arms as well as flap like appendages that allowed for clumsy flight to and fro.

A gentle knock on the room door drew her attention.

"Caerlise? Can I come in?"

"C'mon in K, it's not locked!" Lise shouted back as the door gently '_whooshed'_ open. The snow head walked in, holding a neatly folded set of clothing underneath a pair of black and dark gray boots. Her hair appeared slightly damp from showering and her attire was different. Caerlise laughed, taking her in. She sported black pants with dark gray highlighting and a silver belt buckle, matching black and dark gray boots, a black form-fitting zip up shirt, a blue and dark gray highlighted long sleeved full fitted jacket, and matching gloves. "Don't you look hipster!" she laughed loudly.

"Yeah well looks like you're joining the club!" Kyrie laughed back, placing the clothes neatly on the bedside table. "You've got some clean underwear too. It only took about an hour to make using the fabrication unit, so I made clothes for everybody," she started, her cheeks burned slightly red. "The _Pythagoras_ is practically self sustaining…" She looked away from the semi nude Caerlise periodically. She couldn't help but feel envious of Caerlise's athletically large chest. Her own body's smaller frame naturally supported smaller feminine features, but each girl's body fit them perfectly.

"Huh?" Lise looked confused. She noted her friend's strange antics. "Oh…" She grinned with only the slightest hint of embarrassment, "Eh… you seen one set of tits, you've seen 'em all right? Boobs are boobs! Besides," she said as the little Haro bounced, retracting it's feet and arms.

_"All done! All done! All done!"_ it chirped as it flittered over to the automatic room door, and sailed down the hallway.

"Apparently that regeneration thing works best with the fewer clothes you have on." Lise flexed her arm, rotating her wrist rapidly, wiggling her fingers and extending her legs.

"You're leaving those cords exposed?" Kyrie inquired, peering to get a better look. Caerlise's artificial skin felt exactly like the real living deal and looked flawless save for the odd cable tip protruding from the side of her shapely thigh and back of her hand. At the base of each cable was a small metallic jamb to prevent keep her flesh and blood from being exposed to infection.

"Yeah. Figure if I have to get inside that thing again I should conserve as much of my REAL blood as possible, right?" She pulled the I/O cable on the back of her hand out, and let it recoil back in place with a silly grin on her face.

"…Hmm…" Kyrie gently sat down on the bedside table, a far off look in her eyes.

The brunette let out a large sigh, relaxing her sitting posture against the head of the bed. "Thanks again for the change of clothes, babe," she said with a grin. "God I smell like week old sauerkraut!" the girl stood up and headed over towards the tiny bathroom. "I sure as hell hope this room has running water-

"I'm sorry!"

Lise paused and looked over her shoulder, meeting the girl's concerned gaze. "Huh? What for?"

"About everything! You having to fight inside of that mobile suit, all of us being on this ship in danger, ALL of it! I'm so, so, sorry!"

The taller girl crossed her arms and leaned in the doorway to the bathroom. She only smiled softly. "So you're saying it's _all_ your fault…right?"

The girl paused, taken by surprise.

"You giving that dumbass a crap-ton of explosives, you building that underground hangar, and you being the whiz kid you are, building that Gundam and this ship? All your fault, huh?"

"…Well… no I-

"So then what's there to be sorry for?" Lise replied back, shrugging her shoulders. "Shit happens, K. You know that." Caerlise turned to flip on the bathroom lights. "If anything, just be glad we're all safe and alive still." She reached for the modest tub to turn the water on. "It's like what they say… 'Life's worth living, when you're alive,' right?

Success. Running water.

Kyrie took in her friend's concise advice. One thing Lise was good for was NOT mincing words. "…And also…"

Caerlise dipped one toe into the lukewarm water. It wasn't _so_ bad… at the very least her artificial nerve endings all functioned properly.

Kyrie's eyes were hidden by her stringy wet hair. "… I am… so sorry… about shooting at you…"

"WAITAMINUTE!" Lise shouted, sticking her head around the door, "YOU shot at me?" she asked with a playfully fake air of shock, "'cause last I knew it was that 'Tieria Erde' guy who shot me," She said with a grin, shaking her head. "God how the hell do you even spell that?"

Kyrie mouthed a retort but couldn't find the words to say.

"That's what I thought, kid," the brunette finished, standing in the doorway again, still in just her underwear.

The snow head looked up at her as if she was a child who had done something hellishly bad, and didn't realize the consequences. "…"

"Hmm?"

Kyrie's bottom lip trembled. "Do you… think I'm a freak?"

"A freak?"

Tears streamed from her deep blue eyes. She hadn't the heart to say anything further.

"Ahh jeez… no time for tears, ya?" Caerlise said kindly as she walked over to the sitting girl, a look of compassion on her face. "Now why the hell would I think you're something weird for?"

"Because I'm not Human!" Kyrie shouted back, her eyes full of frustration.

"Huh?" Lise blinked hard, and then burst into laughter.

"See you DO think I'm some weirdo now!" Kyrie shouted back, her eyes renewing their tearful tirade.

Caerlise fought to regain her composure, running a hand through her oily, dirty hair. "Ahh man… WOW!" She chuckled, finally catching herself. "I totally thought that guy made all that up!"

Kyrie looked at her, speechless.

"Wait, what… you mean you're seriously some humanoid computer terminal dealy thingy?"

Kyrie's surprised expression slowly furrowed into slight annoyance. "Yes! As soon as I got control of myself, I realized everything Tieria said was true. It was as if a part of my mind suddenly unlocked itself. Like I became self-aware, all over again. Everything… I feel as if my whole life's been one big li-

"'Cause I sure as hell don't see no antennas or nothing!" Lise interrupted by yanking hard on the girl's white hair with both hands, pulling it up, out, and all about. "You look pretty damn human to me. Huh!" she punctuated with a jovial grunt.

"OWWWW! Hey it's not fun-ny!" Kyrie retorted, halting herself from laughing at the exchange as the girl let her hair loose.

"Yeah it kinda is! Look at you, you're getting so bent outta shape about it! Check me out! Half my body's practically a robot. Hell I really _do_ have computer terminals comin' outta me! Doesn't make me any less human now does it?" Lise asked with a knowing grin.

Kyrie couldn't help but smile as she dried her tears.

"I really don't give a damn about this "Innovade" science fiction-y whatever, whatever. Honestly thinking about it just makes my damn head hurt!" the girl said, shrugging her shoulders. "All this brain jacking, _Celestial Being_, Vader shi-

"Veda," Kyrie corrected with a timid smile.

"Yeah him too," Lise continued, never loosing stride. She put one hand atop the snow haired girl's head, grinning with smiling eyes. "No matter what the hell all that means. You're you! You'll _always_ be you! A Human chick who's awesome at everything she does! Computers, school-

"Cooking!"

"Yeahahaha! Yeah…" Lise's voice fell. "Anyway!" She started up again, "just take it as it is, ya know? Think of it as some advice from your 'older sister' haha!"

Kyrie nodded with a laugh, pushing up her glasses in a knowing way. "You know, we're both 18, right?"

"Yeah but I was born first!"

"You were born September 28th… I was born on the 1st so…"

"Eyagh… that's just technical shit! You know, with me being more mature and all?"

Kyrie smiled maternally, tilting her head, "Actually… I think everyone knows I'm just a _bit_ more mature than you… actually, _a lot_ more mature than yo-

"That ain't the damn point!" Caerlise interrupted, pushing her hand down harder, on the girl's head causing the girl to falter on the table. Lise turned and walked back into the bathroom. "Point is, when you're in danger, I'll always be the first one to save your ass! THAT makes me your older sister! You, Jidane… and that _weeaboo_ weirdo! He's been hangin' around too long for me to just let his dumbass die for no reason," she rattled, slipping out of her underpants unseen.

Kyrie grinned. She knew Lise was always 100% good for her word. No matter what.

"Even if it means I die, your battles are _my_ battles! That's just how I am! I've always been that way, ya know?" she said, gingerly slipping her body into the water, taking care not to submerge the thin cables on her thigh and hand, even though, according to the little Haro, everything was waterproofed. "Now lemme soak for a bit. Jesus I smell like a dead animal! Bleh!"

Kyrie burst into laughter and stood up, headed towards the main door. _"Caerlise Alna… you are definitely one-of-a-kind…"_ she thought to herself, nodding in affirmation. "Hey Lise, one more thing!" she shouted, looking to the side, recalling her memories with a smile.

"Yo?"

"Doc's orders on your clothing! Hehe!"

"Huh? The hell's that mean?" Lise asked with a smile in her voice. She looked up at the fluorescent lights as she gently rubbed her right arm down with soap, her hair sopping wet against her tanned skin.

Kyrie only laughed, saying nothing further as she opened the door and headed down the hall.

The bedroom was silent, save for the gentle splashing of water and the occasional sigh of relaxation. There was no way for him to see what occurred, but he heard every word of the exchange.

Definitely she had a way with words. Her own way with words. Just like him. The first Lockon Stratos.

_..._

* * *

-...-

The _Elan_. Once a scrapped _A-Laws_ prototype for aerial Mobile Suit deployment, over the course of a year the Earth Federation resurrected the massive airship project, producing a domineering titan of the skies. With its twin _Jubilee _class mega particle cannons and forward swept, black armored design, the _Elan_ looked as if it were a massive falcon, swooping with majestic wings out wide and razor sharp talons poised forward.

Currently it was knifing through the ether at 43,000 feet.

Kaino stood at rigid attention, breathing in the recycled air. Just like the transport ship he had arrived on hours earlier, that same "fake" scent wafted into his nose. The boy's weight shifted a microscopic amount as he allowed himself a nanosecond to look over the interior of Colonel Madera's flight office. Relatively spacious, it was adorned with replicas of the Colonel's numerous "honorary degrees" from the former Union's colleges and various combat honor decorations. In the far corner Kaino spotted a half completed model of the former AEU's _Enact_. The boy blinked. Interesting purple the Colonel had opted for coloration…

Overall the boy was unimpressed.

_Thwack!_

Kaino's eyes darted to the stack of papers Madera tossed towards his side of the desk. He stood in silence, his brow furrowing ever so slightly.

"Well?"

The boy looked up at the gruff tone in the man's hardened voice. Colonel Hennessy Madera was an ugly fellow, to put it bluntly. He wore the stately black and gray EF Top official uniform proudly. For a man in his position, looks weren't very important. "S-Sir…"

Madera motioned with his head and hands. _So what? You want something else?_

"…" the boy stiffened. "…Sir, did-

"Yes yes I read everything. There are no grounds for approving your request for reassignment," the man said, waving a hand in the boy's direction.

"But Sir I-

Kaino caught himself before saying too much.

"What was that?" Madera leveled his eyes with the youngster. "I said… your request is DENIED."

Kaino's lips pursed tightly. "Col. Madera! The Flag's Recorder Box clearly displays Ensign Renault's inefficiency and recklessness as squad commander!"

The older man glared at the brazen boy.

"Ensign Jenesis, I went over every piece of data from that Recorder Box… I've found nothing that proves your baseless claim."

The look of shock on the uniformed young man's face was priceless. "Sir! There must be some-

"The Gang hoodlums used that Gundam type mobile suit in association with _Celestial Being_. Do you deny that Ensign?" The man interrogated with an accusing air.

Kaino motioned to speak, but said nothing. _Wait! _"I do, sir. We have no evidence connecting those high school students to _Celestial Being_."

The older man's eyes phased annoyance. "Oh I see where this is going…" the man looked him dead in the eyes, "Your little school mates are enemies of the Federation, Jenesis. There's no excuse for their actions, other than being in league with _Celestial Being_!"

The pastel green haired boy gritted his teeth, his keen violet eyes fighting to contain his shock and awe.

"Furthermore," the Colonel began, sitting back in his posh chair, "due to Ensign Spencer's hotheaded attitude and blatant disregard for protocol in shooting first, he was killed in action."

Mortified, Kaino's eyes widened. This was impossible! "B-but sir! The recordings-

Out from the side door, Zenna Renault casually walked into the room, fully adorned in black EF official garb. Kaino stared at her in surprise. "W-what? How long-

The boy eyed the blazing white rank stripes on her new black uniform. Unbelievable!

Zenna only smiled as she sashayed to stand in front of Kaino and the Colonel's desk, leaning her perfectly shaped rear on the edge. "Surprised?"

Kaino wanted to scream to high heaven. "…!"

Zenna smirked as her muscles tensed and shoved her lithe body off the edge. The Colonel's lecherous eyes followed her perfect figure. His mind raced, reliving the numerous encounters he shared with the young vixen. At more than three times her age, the old man knew each and every line of her delicious body…

She patted the boy's shoulder, letting her razor sharp fingernails linger down his sleeve. "Suit up… _Lieutenant_."

"What?" Kaino couldn't believe his ears! "Ensign-

"That's _Captain_, Lieutenant Jenesis," Zenna corrected with a curt tilt of her head. She glared at him seductively, standing by his side. She lovingly smoothed the collar of his Uniform and brushed his shoulder. "We have a few new tools to use…" Her trailing hand tensed, her sharp nails digging into his arm, "… we're going to sift through the trash to kill a few rats!"

Kaino blinked, unable to take in everything.

Rejection.  
Blatant lies.  
New tools?  
New _promotions_?

"Lieutenant Jenesis, you are under my direct, absolute command. You will answer to me, and only me." Her hand relaxed slightly, her grasping nails still biting deep, "…be a good little boy and do as I say now…"

With that, the newly promoted woman's hips swayed over to the closed door, opened it, and confidently walked out.

_..._

* * *

-...-

Caerlise was not pleased. Not pleased one bit. Not pleased at all.

The hangar bay door slid open, her perturbed expression biting into the air. The girl stepped inside, swinging her fisted arms angrily as the gentle "_whips_" of her black and gray skirt sounded in time with each "_clopping_" step of her gray and black boots, continuing the mocking tirade. "Damn Kyrie… I swear if she wasn't such a good kid I'd _kill_ her for this…" Lise muttered as the smell of ammunition and lube wafted into her nostrils.

The girl wore a similar outfit to Kyrie, save for the deep blood red pallet swap.

And of course, the knee length skirt.

Lise opted to leave her black zip up shirt completely unzipped, showing her stark white tank top underneath. Her red jacket was unzipped, the sleeves rolled up to mid-forearm. Her clenched, red gloved knuckles popped angrily, almost as if entering an automatic "violence mode."

With a deep sigh, the girl shook her head and continued onward. The bath had managed to do its job of relaxing her somewhat decently, but her entire core felt jazzed. Lise stifled a yawn as she slowly walked along the metal girder towards the white Gundam. She felt tired, but her body refused to sleep. "God I hate that…" she muttered, scratching her still damp hair.

She walked around to the opened cockpit to see Jidane lying asleep with a printout of literature splayed across his hunter green jacketed body. He too wore similar clothing to Caerlise and Kyrie, opting to fasten his jacket all the way. The girl shook her head, supporting her weight against the open cockpit door with one arm above her head. "Always proper…" she laughed quietly.

She turned to leave, letting her hand linger on the smooth white surface of the door, looking up for the first time to fully take in the Mobile Suit's simple elegance. Its dynamic fin-swept white head design and neck features seemed to echo a similar aerodynamic around the pelvis. _Beautiful_.

It _was_ oddly beautiful: slender in its stark silver build with white body armor mounted on set points all over its hands, arms, torso, back, legs and feet; even the trademark "Gundam Fin and Chin" combination were white and silver.

The girl cocked her head slightly as she took in the Gundam's face. She had never understood the iconic look; to her, a Gundam's red "chin" ended up making the mobile suit appear to be perpetually sticking its tongue out and down low at its foes. The way how the white faceplate almost glowed in contrast to the silver chin and silver color matched eye and nose region made it truly appear as if it was a human face that was partially protected by a face mask.

"Hmm…" The girl allowed herself a moment of awe. It was a horrible weapon… but undoubtedly beautiful. She smiled, tapping her gloved fingers on the side of the cockpit door; before she turned around, her eyes caught a glimpse of a deep engraving along the length of the cockpit. Caerlise did a double take and took in what was written.

_A G I L E N T_

"…_Aa_-ji-_lent_?" she slowly pronounced with wonder. The name dripped with speed, precision, and versatility. It just _fit._ "Heh… Gundam… _Agilent._"

Jidane let loose a jolting snore, jarring the girl's thoughts of admiration. Caerlise's eyes were wide, failing to comprehend how such a noise could come out of her best bud. With the mischievous grin of an older sister, Lise stood above the sleeping boy and impulsively, impishly, _irreverently, _cajoled the boy awake with her booted foot in his crotch.

"WAKEY WAKEY!

The boy let loose an emasculated yelping/howling/bleating/squealing/bawling _noise_, like a wild jaguar caught in a dull bladed wood chipper, for the duration of the rude wake up call.

"WITTLE ELYPHANT WANNA PWAY PWAY? IN DE MORNY MORNY A WHOLE WOTTA WOODY-WOODY! HAHAHA!" The brunette exploded in raucous laughter, holding her sides until they split, relishing the boy's horrifically embarrassing rouse.

Jidane quickly regained himself, shielding "himself" from anymore baseless and unprovoked attacks. "JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE HELL, LISE?" The papers on his chest had strewn everywhere. "I was asleep jeez!" he started as he gathered the papers.

"Yeah I could hear it!" Lise replied with a laugh, sticking out her tongue. "Brings back memories though, don't it? Haha!" Every morning at the old Orphanage, Caerlise would wake up the unsuspecting Jidane in that exact manner.

"Yeah, BAD ones…" The boy mumbled something further, incoherently.

Lise only grinned, reliving the nostalgia.

"HEY! WHAT'S GOIN ON DOWN THERE?"

The redhead boy's red head popped out over the Gundam's lean and nimble chest, peering to see the gorgeous brunette looking back up at him. His face was covered in grease and he smelled of spent ammunition. "Oh hey there hot stuff! HAHA I thought I heard like a sheep dog getting fixed or somethin-WHOA!" The boy leaned out too far, toppling over hard and landing atop the girl.

Jidane stared in surprise at Caerlise's crisp clean white panties beneath her black and gray skirt… which Akio seemed to get a face full of.

"DUMBASS!" The girl was up in a flash, kicking the boy HARD in the crotch.

Jidane winced. "Jeez Lise… you could seriously hurt a guy… like that," he finished in a mumble, moving his hands to guard himself yet again.

"That was kinda the _point!_" she shouted back irately. "Hmph!" She turned her head sharply, paying no more mind to the writhing carrot top. Her eyes opened to track Jidane hoisting himself out of the cockpit, her eyes blinking in surprise. "Hey…"

"Huh?" he sounded, looking up as he stepped out onto the metal platform.

"… Did you clean it all up?" the girl asked, sticking her head inside. The modestly padded seat and floor were completely devoid of blood and sweat.

"Yeah I did… you sure do bleed a lot," he laughed.

"Uggg… so that's why…. Chick's constantly on the rag!" Akio managed to retort, finally regaining his bearings, heaving back nausea. The poor kid still lay on his back, sucking in air. He also wore similar clothing, but with black colors. His half fastened jacket had the sleeves shorn off in a "rebel" fashion, showing the black short sleeved zip up shirt underneath.

"SAY WHAT?" Caerlise blared, baring her teeth and clenched fists.

"ANYWAY," Jidane interrupted, diffusing yet another bomb, "It's all cleaned and sanitized. I even cleared out all the scattered tools and all the dust."

Lise blinked in awe. Sure enough the cockpit looked like it could have been straight out of the military. "Jeez… you didn't have to do that ya know…"

"Yeah I know," Jidane said, gently slapping the stack of papers on a nearby service cart. "Not only that, but I double insulated most of the wiring for the inputs." He grinned and tilted his head, "so if you ever need to go at it again, you don't fry something else!"

"Heheh!" the girl laughed nervously, scratching the back of her slowly drying hair. "So uhh… did you do anything else to it?"

The boy looked at the stack of papers and shook his head. "Other than putting in some handlebars, nothing unfortunately. Most of the Gundam's spare parts and stuff are all on board but… I guess who ever designed this thing didn't get to install the controls." He crossed his arms and motioned to the paper stack with his head, "Everything's lined up here but they just never got around to doing it I guess. It's just flat out unfinished. Hmm." The boy shook his head, his engineer's mind churning. "And to be honest," he started, motioning to no one in particular, "even if I had the parts I doubt I could do much… this stuff is seriously advanced-

He looked over at the girl whose skirt-draped rear end stuck out of the open cockpit. God only knew what she was intently staring at on the inside. Jidane laughed, shaking his head. "Anyway so we both replaced some armored parts and Akio was just reloading the arm Vulcan before I passed out while reading this manual," he punctuated by drumming his fingers on the stack of paper.

Lise backed out, looking the Gundam over once more. "Yeah…" She wasn't paying much attention. "Must've been one hell of a New York Times Best Seller…" She looked his way, "So who's the author?"

Jidane shrugged. "No clue. But I know it's _not_ _Celestial Being."_

Lise looked at him, confused.

"I know, right? Somewhere down the line, CB got control of this Gundam _and_ this ship… but from what I've read?" The boy flopped the papers before her, "Whoever built this ship and that mobile suit was definitely in competition with Aeolia Schenberg."

Lise' brow furrowed. "… Wasn't he that bald guy? Super smart? Stupid goatee-

"Will you stop joking around?" Jidane snapped. He sighed, shaking his head. "Here. Just take a read and then let me know what you think," he said, handing the papers to her.

"How about you just give me the damn cheat-sheet version?" Caerlise retorted, walking back over to the cockpit and plopping down in the seat. "For starters, who the hell built this thing?"

"I already told you, I have no idea," the boy started with a shrug. "From what I gather, based on some of the technical data Kyrie pulled, there were a lot of competing ideas within CB when it was first founded. One of the biggest issues was the actual construction of a workable GN drive."

"Yeah, and?"

"And… this Gundam _Agilent_ and the _Pythagoras_ are the products of a radically different approach to GN Particle Science.

"Oh… I get it…" Akio started. By now the boy was sitting upright, listening intently. "So like… rival factions within _Celestial Being_ went rogue and made their own designs?" he finished, standing up to clamor back up the Gundam, continuing his repairs.

"Maybe, something like that," Jidane replied. "Either that or both of these designs were just glorified Betas for the real thing. It definitely would explain the lack of a completed cockpit."

"Yeah… I guess you're right…" Caerlise replied, taking it all in.

"But what's really neat is how drastically different the GN Drive works on this Gundam, compared to the ones _Celestial Being_ used." Jidane knelt down on the girder and flipped through the stack, pulling one sheet out. "See this here? A lot of the data on the Pilots, Gundams, and GN Drives that _Celestial Being_ used was somehow erased along the line, but a few early schematics show what a normal GN Drive looks like. Check it out." The boy pointed to a blow-up diagram of a GN Drive. "This here's the missing link between the technology that _A-Laws_ was using, and what Schenberg realized."

Lise looked where the boy was pointing at. "… What the hell am I supposed to be staring at?" she asked bluntly.

"The TD Blanket," the boy replied. "This little device is what makes a GN drive a perpetual energy generator. It also has the neat side effect of making sure the GN particles produced aren't toxic to the body. Think of it as a self-charging battery that doubles as a particle filter, got it?"

"Yeah, sure…"

"Oh yeah, I get it!" Akio muttered. "Back on TV when they'd show Celestial Being kicking ass, their Gundams always had green GN particles coming outta their GN Drives, but the _A-Laws_ had red ones."

"Well, it was 'Tau Drives,' not 'GN Drives' that _A-Laws _used, but you're pretty much right. Red GN Particles are essentially unfiltered and highly toxic, but as the skirmishes with _Celestial Being_ went on, the science behind the Tau Drives improved somewhat, making them not so hazardous. Well… even though the ICPMS-7500cx Gundam _Agilent_ was affiliated directly with _Celestial Being, _it doesn't have a TD Blanket at all-

"WHOA WHAT?" Caerlise shouted, her eyes open wide. "Holy shit are you kidding me? So what am I gonna get GN Cancer now?"

"No," the boy replied, stifling a laugh. "Here's where the differing technology comes into play. Overall, the TD Blanket and the GN Drive construction was essentially one gigantic loss for CB financially. It wasn't cost effective, and the only real way to develop one would be to do it within Jupiter's gaseous atmosphere. Good luck replicating that on Earth! So who ever designed the _Agilent_ really had to approach the science differently. This big guy has what's called a Dynamic Reaction Cell… see?" Jidane flipped more pages and pulled out a sheet showcasing a cylindrical device with rods surrounding a core. "The DRC essentially acts like a TD Blanket."

"Same effect, different process… hey I guess that _is_ kinda cool…"

"Isn't it though?" Jidane's eyes brightened.

"Yeah… so I _won't_ get cancer from this thing…"

"…" The boy's face fell.

Caerlise didn't notice. "Alright so how the hell does this DRC work anyway? That's that gauge thing on the display screens, right?"

"Right. Uhh… actually I'm not one hundred percent sure how it works, but I do know this." The boy scratched his head and pulled out another sheet. "The DRC operates at about around 30% of its capacity to compress a GN Particle enough in order to mathematically and physically treat it as if it were a wave-

Blank stare…

"Hey look man, I'm pretty good at math so just spit out the numbers," Caerlise replied with an angry expression of embarrassment. She wasn't stupid; all this theory crap just wasn't her brain type!

"… It's that compression followed by other reactions within the cell that produce a filtered GN Particle. Furthermore, the act of compressing and decompressing a GN Particle generates a sort of inductively coupled resonance phenomenon, which makes this Drive about a 25% efficient perpetual energy generator when operated normally It's not much, but… Oh yeah, and of course, since the particle's undergone subsequent reactions, it's shifted down to the blue region of the visible spectrum-

"So what you're sayin' is, this thing does some shit to the red thing, and it makes it blue. Right?" Lise interrupted. It was all getting to be too much for her!

"Yeaaaah… and then-

"And because it's blue, it's not gonna kill us, right?"

"… Yeah."

"So why the hell didn't you just _say_ that? Jesus Criminy Christmas Jidane, take a damn class on public speaking, for cryin' out loud!" The girl replied, clearly annoyed. "No one cares about all that other crazy talk!"

Jidane sounded his disagreement, looking down in embarrassment.

"Hahaha…" Akio laughed tauntingly from high atop, "Hey man, looks like your _nerd's_ showing hahaha!"

"What do _you_ know?" Jidane snapped, his pride obviously hurt. "Anyway, like I was SAYING…" he glared at Caerlise who only looked up and away nonchalantly, "this GN Drive is also set to charge the _Pythagoras_' GN condensers when the Gundam is docked like it is now. That way we're constantly provided enough purified GN Particles for running the ship."

Caerlise only nodded and tapped her finger on her bare knee.

"Right so, a few more things. You never got a chance to see that battle data from early this morning, did you?"

"No not at all… what's the deal?" Lise asked, her interest piquing.

Jidane grinned. "Wait so before I show you, tell me what it felt like."

"Huh? You mean sitting inside the cockpit-

"No I mean what did it feel like as you were fighting? Uhhmmm… fighting from when Tieria dropped the system lock. What do you remember?"

Lise sat back in the seat, crossing her arms in thought. "Well… hmmm… I remember- no… I remember taking out this one Flag… and then anoth- wait no I…. damn! _Tcht!_" The girl looked down and to the side, shaking her knee up and down rapidly as she struggled to remember. "Dammit Jidane… I don't really know, come to think of it." She repositioned herself in the seat, "Well I mean I _do_… but I don't…" The girl's bottom lip worked in a thoughtful manner. "It's like my memory's all jumbled up. I think it happened one way, and then I start to think it happened some other way. Like, I know I was beatin' the hell outta the EF's Flags and all but… everything's all hazy and mixed up…"

"Heh…" the boy grinned as he leaned in closer, making himself comfortable. "Remember how when we were little, and every time I'd miss a cartoon or something I'd ask you to tell me how it went?"

"Yeah!" the girl punctuated with an insightful fist pound into her gloved hand. "And you'd always get pissed because I was so bad at telling stuff in order and all that! Yeah…" she finished with a nostalgic grin, "stuff would come back to me in bits and pieces, but I could never tell you exactly how it all mashed together."

The boy nodded, "Yeah! And I'd say that's what your problem was with this, if I hadn't taken a look at all the data."

Caerlise looked quizzical.

The dark skinned boy reached forward and inputted a sequence into the terminal access board with his green gloved fingers, a video of the recent skirmish popping up on the control panel screen. "Here take a look at this. The ship automatically deploys battle cameras during a confrontation to gather visual data."

Lise watched as the shimmering blue mobile suit dashed across the screen to hack a Flight Mode transformed Flag in two. The girl's eyes grew wide, recalling the enemy Flag at point blank range near the bridge. "… Wait, why's the Gundam blue now-WHAT THE-

Jidane watched as she blinked in surprise, her eyebrows contorting in disbelief. "Crazy, isn't it?"

In one instant the blue suit was far away from the ship and the next it had already destroyed the point blank Flag. A sudden explosive flash in another location drew the girl's eyes, seeing the blue suit in the midst of another destroyed Flag, only to see the sudden scene repeated at various points. "Whoa… what the hell's goin on?" Lise demanded, leaning in forward to squint at the screen. "Is this thing skipping or what?"

"Nope. Everything's perfectly fine," the boy started with a knowing smile as he pulled another paper from the stack and placed it over the screen. "_This_ is what the hell went on."

Caerlise picked up the diagram which consisted of another exploded view of the GN Drive, only this one was littered with notations. "…. Kinetic Impulse, Wave Induction system?" She shook her head slowly, looking up at the boy. "What is this?"

"It's called the KIWI system," he said, taking the paper from her. "It's one of the DRC's secondary functions." The boy's hands danced on the input board, pulling up another view of the battle scene. "This GN Drive theoretically- well I guess it really does have... it has a much lower power output than a real GN Drive at normal use. That explains why it can't sustain the Gundam for atmospheric flight. So… in order to get around that… when the DRC operates at 50% capacity or higher, it activates the Gundam's KIWI system. It's a high performance propulsion system that works by highly compressing the GN Particles into literal wave form and saturating the Gundam completely with these new, more physically realized, "wave particles." You remember back in Chem class, don't you? How electrons and all matter has what's called a 'Wave-Particle Duality?' It's sort of the same idea, only more physically than theoretically apparent."

"Huh…" The girl took it all in, noting the now confusing battle scene depiction. There were lines and waves all about the screen. Nothing made sense, it was all abstract. "Now what the hell is this supposed to be?" she asked, scratching her head.

"Hold on a sec…" the boy muttered as he evened out the waves, creating more of a Doppler view. The entire screen was saturated with blue static; a small white static blob appeared along with several other red blips. Near the far left was a larger white static blob. "Okay. So the blue is just the battle scene, drenched in GN Particles. The reds are the Flags and this big white blob is the _Pythagoras_. This here's you," he stated, tapping the screen above the smaller white blob.

"Okay…"

"Right so, with the KIWI system active, the Gundam can literally knife its way through the atmosphere, just like the Gundams we all saw Celestial Being use. You can think of it like removing the limiter from your rotorcycle. You end up getting way more bang for your buck. Remember when it activated, the GN Particle output went through the roof!"

The girl nodded.

"That influx and saturation of wave-particles is what turns the Gundam's frame that blue shimmering hue. But that's not really important. _This_ is what blows my mind…"

The boy set the scene to play, slowing the playback. Lise watched as the small white blob gently melted into the blue screen, gently appearing again near the larger white blob.

"That's me taking out that Flag, right?"

"Yup! So you see, when the DRC is taxed even harder, about around 80% or so, the KIWI mobility system literally semi-collapses the waveform of the Gundam, allowing it to travel at pretty much light speed _anywhere_ within the GN Particle field."

"Holy… wait, so you mean like teleportation?" The girl asked, completely in awe. She watched again as the white blip melted into the blue, appearing again in another location.

"Not so much. Teleportation implies that you're completely in one place then completely in another, in an instant. This KIWI drive is essentially bending the waveform of the Gundam and the surrounding GN saturated areas. Think of it like bending space, only to have you jump to the other side of the bend, and then un-bending it again. Only in this case, you're pretty much restricted by how far and wide the GN particle saturated "space" is."

The girl only shook her head at him.

The boy sighed. "You're basically going ridiculously fast from one point to the other by using the GN Particles as a medium to shift in and out of space for a brief time."

The girl only shook her head at him... slower this time.

"Uggh…" He rubbed his sinuses in annoyance, "… you're _teleporting_."

"Huh! Man this is seriously science-fiction, wow…" The girl replied, finally bending her mind around it all.

Jidane only smiled. Typical Caerlise… "With each shift, it takes about a microsecond to come in and out… pretty damn fast if you ask me!" He flashed a toothy grin, "Ya know, if you want I can tell you more about how the-

"Naa, I'm good, thanks," the girl interrupted, reaching for the stack of papers. "So tell me about weapons and stuff. I'm practically flyin' on empty out there." She looked at a sheet that _could _have been a beam rifle…

"Yeah, that's not gonna do you any good," Jidane replied, taking the blow up diagram of the Gundam's _leg_ away from the girl. "Actually…" The boy thumbed through the papers, a grin splitting his face, "the entire weapons system is kinda interesting; definitely tells us something about who ever designed and built the Gundam," he finished, drawing two sheets from the stack and handing them to the girl.

"Yeah? What's that?" she inquired, looking at what appeared to be two drastically different mobile suit design specs. Her face contorted in a thoughtful expression.

"Well, all of the weapon systems are 100% complete and ready for action," he started, meeting her surprised look. "Heh yeah! The Gundam isn't even fully completed but all the weapons are. I suppose our guy must have been really pressed for time."

"Either that or he really enjoyed blowing shit up," she replied, looking at one design and then the other. "So what is this… two more Gundams? Doesn't solve the no weapon issue we've got here though. All we have is this one MS…"

The boy set back, his eyes twinkling. "Not exactly. Ya see, the _Agilent_ was built with a next generation moveable frame design, meaning that armor plating and armaments could be rapidly swapped in and out, depending on the situation. Not only that, but it sacrifices defense for mobility. All this here?" he started, waving his hands about him as he looked over the bay. "All of these are the weapons systems."

Lise rocked her body out of the cockpit, looking about the hangar at the hanging, standing, and laying red and green parts and accessories all at strategic locations. "Yeah I had no idea what those were all for," she muttered, noting a set of what looked to be green and silver arms, sporting a rear swept aerodynamic look.

"Yeah, it's really something else. The _Agilent_ is amazingly versatile. Take this," the boy said, pointing at the design spec in the girl's left hand. "That there's what the designers called the '_Valkyria'_ configuration. All the green parts around here are what make up that weapons chassis. It was designed for high speed, close quarters combat. Not only that, but the core unit of the _Valkyria_ weapons system can be operated independently, almost like a separate fighter jet. Pretty neat, eh?"

"Huh!" The girl sounded her impression. "And this guy here… these are the red parts?" she asked, shaking the paper in her right hand.

"Yup! That one's called the '_Braver'_ configuration. It's designed to be a heavy assault mode. It's loaded to the nines with weapons and anything else you would need. A lot of its weapons can operate independently as autonomous drone units to boot. As you can see," he started, spreading his arm out towards the bay floor, "there are a lot more parts than the _Valkyria_ set up. Each and every armor plate of the _Agilent_ comes off and gets replaced with the _Braver_ components, unlike the _Valkyria_ which basically docks on and off."

"Wow! Holy hell… would you take a look at that missile pod?" the girl whistled, taking in a rather _large_ red box marked 'MISSILES.' "Heh… let's hope I never have to use it…" she muttered.

"Well…" Jidane shook his head as the girl returned the papers to him, "this is _Celestial Being_ we're talking about. Using force to blot out war and terror and all that."

"Yeah… and with no war going on, it's just little ol' us, caught right in the middle," Caerlise sighed, scratching her head. "Ahh man… this shit's really gotta stop… soon…" she added with a ravenously tired yawn.

"Hey you oughtta get some sleep, Lise," Jidane replied with a caring smile. "You really did a lot for us today… _a lot_…"

The girl popped her neck, crossing her arms as she turned around. "Yeah… think I might take you up on that… actually…" she punctuated with another giant yawn, stretching out wide. "See ya in the morning!"

"Evening…" Jidane said back, bent over in the cockpit, "it's already past lunch!"

"Ahh well… tired trumps hungry any day!" The girl waved a blind goodbye to whomever cared to notice as she walked across the metal walkway towards the bay doors.

"… Nice skirt by the way," Jidane snorted with a grin as he stood up, barely dodging a tomahawking monkey wrench after the fact.

_..._

* * *

-...-

It had been roughly 10 minutes since the snow white haired girl stirred awake at the Navigation controls of the _Pythagoras_. Kyrie gently typed at the console, checking and double checking the ship's flight status.

It was well into midday, but the lights on the darkened bridge were all dimmed, the auto-shades on the bridge's massive windows were doing a splendid job of filtering the light from the burning sun.

_"I wouldn't touch that," _Tieria piped up, his voice pattern appearing in a side window of the console's multiple screens.

Kyrie's blue gloved finger hovered over a button, instinctively retracting as she put her hands in her lap. "Sorry about that," she said quietly.

_"Not a problem. Be careful with the Optical Camouflage. It took long enough to get it up and running properly,"_ the voice reprimanded calmly.

The girl's nimble fingers worked the console, rearranging the windows neatly, closing each one by one. She sighed, letting her eyes fall out of focus to see her vague reflection on the screen before her.

Everything… it was all like something out of a science fiction movie…

"… Tieria?"

_"What is it?"_ the voice responded flatly.

Kyrie smiled timidly, slowly shaking her head. "… I-Its nothing…" The girl sat back in the chair, enjoying the quiet ambiance of the bridge.

The dark was soothing; the past few hours had been hectic and hellish beyond words. She took peace in simply listening to the sounds all around her:

The gentle beeping of her console.  
The audible circuit noise from blinking status lights.  
The faint hum of the ship's engines.  
In the midst of all that, her rhythmic breathing.

Even deeper beyond the unique symphony, the sound of silence whining steadily…

"… How… was it like?" the girl asked, breaking the stillness.

_"Excuse me?"_ Tieria replied.

Kyrie could have sworn she noted a hint of humanity, genuine humanity, in his voice. "… I just…" She looked down, gently smoothing out her zipped black shirt. "I was wondering what it felt like… to be an Innovade."

_"…" _ Tieria was silent. He honestly couldn't say.

"I mean… I would think it would _feel_ the same as being a human…" Kyrie started, looking down and away. "Then again… did you ever feel different from your friends?"

_"…" _ The computer voice was silent. _"… I'd rather not discuss that."_

"Why's that?" the girl prodded gently. She laughed, shaking her head slightly, "No, never mind… I understand what you mean." She smiled, her memories in another place. "Those are your memories… _your_ experiences with _your_ friends… It must have felt amazing…"

_ "…"_

"Being able to understand those strange feelings you felt… those conflicting emotions that you had to have noticed growing inside of you…" she turned to look at the barely moving speech pattern, "you know… slowly becoming Human."

Tieria processed everything she said. In certain respects he found her to be rather annoying… but then again, she seemed to capture him perfectly as he had been over the span of 7 years ago.

"When you were in my head, I saw a little bit of how you used to be… you know, cold… and unfeeling." The girl smiled, looking down into another world, "For me, it's not the same though. Learning to be an Innovade, I mean." She looked up, "Look at Lise and Jidane, even Akio! Not one of them seems to think I'm some sort of freak… or something less than human. It's nice…" She let her head rest back on the headrest, "… knowing you have friends who support you. Friends who love you…"

_"… Indeed. Friendships are one of the few things we humans can form from absolute nothingness."_

Kyrie grinned, glad to have him open up, even if just a little to her. For all intents and purposes, she was a stranger to him. Hearing the voice say 'we humans' definitely put her heart at ease. She shook her head, "No, not from nothingness. It forms from mutual understanding of one another. . All it takes is a single thought; an intuition. An unconscious desire to learn about another person. I think… humans are truly capable of understanding each other on a deeper level."

_"Not just a human," _Tieria started, his voice definitely sounding more genuinely human with each passing moment,_ "but one who's begun Innovation."_

"Hmm…" Kyrie smiled timidly, hunching forward. "When I saw some of your memories… I saw that boy. The one you called Setsuna."

If possible, the voice sounded his shock. _"…Remind me never to dive into your mind again."_

Kyrie laughed, "I can't believe it… was that a _joke_?" she asked, her smile increasing tenfold.

_ "Hmmph!"_

She only grinned. She never knew the stoic yet friendly voice had it in him. She clasped her hands behind her head, "Well… ever since I learned what an Innovator is… I can't help but wonder if Caerlise-

_"I wouldn't push that issue to far,"_ Tieria interrupted with caution. _"Innovation isn't something that will happen overnight."_

"True… I guess we shouldn't expect all of humanity to up and realize what troubles one another." She turned to look out the darkened window. "We can't expect everyone to suddenly understand the essence of people and things…"

_ "… But that doesn't mean we should stop striving towards it."_

Kyrie blinked. She definitely didn't expect that from Tieria! "Hmm… We'll never stop trying to become that new type of person… I kinda like that!"

_ "The future…; no one knows what it will hold. Even as a super computer, Veda requires constant, updated information and various other data in order to take a calculated guess as to what may come."_

Kyrie smiled. His voice was oddly soothing. "Tieria?"

_ "Yes?"_

"… I wish I could have met you."

_ "W-what?"_

"I mean it! I think you're a very interesting person!" the girl laughed. "Not only that, but all of your friends. There isn't any information regarding them in the data on _Celestial Being_." She looked forward, a look of content on her face, "but you know… each of them kept an electronic journal, daily."

_ "Did you-_

"No no!" the girl laughed, waving her hands, "don't worry I didn't read any of them. That's just too personal, you know?"

Tieria didn't respond.

"But I did notice… each entry was signed by their real names. That's the only reason I knew them."

_ "… Yes, they were."_

Kyrie smiled. "So you know what that means, right? No matter their task of fighting daily, each member of _Celestial Being_ always knew who they were, regardless of code name. Their bond… _your _bond was really eternal."

The voice was silent, taking it all in. Such interesting people, Tieria had to admit.

The girl leaned towards the console and began typing away, finally punctuating with a resounding finger tap on the keyboard's physical 'enter' key. "There."

The voice sounded his surprise. _"You-_

"Uh-huh!" the girl smiled, "I'm sorry I did that earlier… but I was honestly scared for my friend's safety. I just deleted your block on Veda."

_"I can't believe you managed to perform that in the first place!"_ Tieria sounded, surprise still in his voice.

The girl shook her head. "It all started back at that terminal in the underground hangar. Somehow there must have been a trap program that would trigger a connection through to the old OS."

Tieria remained silent. He knew she was referring to the older systems on board the _Pythagoras_ and the white Gundam, compared to those of the _Ptolemaios_ and the other Gundams. He had no idea who could have placed a connection trigger like that underground.

"With the OS differences, you'd have to commit a full upload from Veda either way," she said, typing again. "All it took was sealing off that connection… There!" She turned to look at the pattern, "you should be able to go back and forth between the ship and Gundam easily now. And the lock on me is also erased," she said with a confident smile.

_"… Why would you do that?" _The voice phased wary, _"I could just as easily find another plan to make sure the secrets on board this ship don't fall into the wrong hands."_

Kyrie only shook her head slowly. "No… I don't think you would…" She smiled timidly, "Caerlise, Jidane, Akio… we're all fighting for our lives. Fighting for our futures! Besides… the future you fought for will be lived by all of us."

Tieria was silent. Silent, but surprised.

"Think of it as a sign of trust. I trust in that future you fought to create."

_ "… I… I see…"_

The bridge door zipped open quietly as Jidane stepped into the darkened control room, a freeze dried piece of meat in between his teeth.

"Heya K! Thought I'd find you in here," he said, tossing her a packet of stale graham crackers. "I know it's not much… this stuff's been here for an awful long time, but it sure hits the spot!"

Kyrie said her thanks and opened up the packet, relishing the bite into the sugary ration.

"So, where're we headed anyhow?" the boy asked quietly as he walked up behind the girl. The way he rested on the back of her seat… did he perchance have a "thing" for the fair-haired, blue eyed girl?

"We're currently going in the direction of the Pillar of Heaven," the girl replied, pulling up a map view which indicated their distance towards the Pacific Ocean bound orbital elevator nicknamed 'Pillar of Heaven.' "We really don't have any other plans."

Jidane frowned, "Well… we really need to get back to LA somehow…" He was completely out of ideas.

_"We should rendezvous with Celestial Being,"_ Tieria stated, pulling up a space map. _"Staying here on Earth isn't an option any longer."_

Jidane's frown deepened. He didn't like the idea. Not one bit. But the voice did have a point… "Heh!"

"What's funny?" Kyrie asked, starting into another cracker politely.

"Nothin'… just that we're pretty much gonna be kicked out of our Senior year of Highschool… and Lise is gonna have one hell of a time explaining to Doc why she's been gone for so long!" he finished with a grin. Caerlise was pretty well known among her friends for making Dr. Castle prematurely gray in certain areas.

Kyrie laughed, "I'm sure she'll think of something!" She turned to the console, typing with the cracker in between her lips.

_"Setting a course for Pillar of Heaven," _Tieria stated, _"we can use the Elevator's 'dead zone' to blast into space undetected."_ He referred to the incredibly narrow cylinder of communication dead space about the elevator. "It will be tricky… but from what I've seen, you four seem to be capable enough."

Kyrie smiled big. Perhaps their chat brought out this "friendly" side of Tieria.

_"In the meantime, I suggest getting rested."_

"Yeah…" Jidane stood up and scratched his head, stretching out wide. "Lise is taking a break in her room and Akio's passed out on the hangar floor. I think I'm good though. I caught a nice cat nap about an hour ago."

Kyrie stood up, smoothing her jacket. "Excuse me, I'm going to the little girl's room!" she said with a laugh. She turned and placed a warm palm on Jidane's jacketed chest. "Thanks again for the cookies… guess I didn't know how starving I was!"

Jidane's cheeks blazed red. "Uh… y-yeah sure!"

The girl smiled and patted her hand on his chest, letting her finger tips linger as she walked on. "Keep an eye on things here for me, okay?"

The boy couldn't say anything, his heart and emotions running pleasantly rampant.

_..._

* * *

-...-

Kaino flipped the circuit testers on and off repeatedly, checking and double checking the wiring of his blue GN-XIII. Everything looked to be in perfect order. He looked at the view screens, noting the plethora of blue and white units, all identical to his own. "… A little overkill to just capture one ship and mobile suit… even if it _is_ a Gundam…" he muttered, noting the blinking IFF codes sounding off one by one within the cockpit. When his turn came, he flashed his signals.

_ "Lieutenant!"_

The boy's violet eyes snapped over to the image of the squad leader. "Yes Captain?" He winced within, unable to stomach the thought of a person like Zenna Renault being promoted to such high rank in such a short time. And with no record to support such a promotion…

_"Keep an eye on my back out there. Don't forget, that ship and mobile suit are our enemies. You will shoot first, and not even bother to ask questions. Do you understand?"_ Her eyes flashed on the view screen, dripping with sexy and seductive malice.

"… Yes Captain," Kaino replied, looking forward.

_"… Glad to know you can follow orders,"_ the image said as the girl activated her helmet auto-visor, her face darkening in an instant. She promptly cut communications.

Kaino gritted his teeth, praying that worst didn't come to worst out there. He darkened his helmet, watching as the massive bay doors of the _Elan_ opened up majestically, the past midday sun blaring brightly. With a loud roar, the bottom shutter bay doors slowly retracted back, revealing the blue atmosphere below.

The launch lights sparked brightly to life as a blaring klaxon sounded.

_Five._

The first row of five blue and white GN-XIII's Tau Drives blared to life, casting red particles gently behind them.

_Four._

The first row fell forward out of the massive hangar in unison, zipping forward in perfect formation.

_Three._

Kaino watched as the second row of five belched to red life.

_Two._

The set of five fell forward out of the bay, jamming through the clouds into a secondary formation.

_One._

The boy's blue suit shuddered smoothly as the cascading bay doors opened to their full width, the floor doors fully retracted. The spiral hum of the Tau Drive corkscrewed through his ear drums, finally reaching a near undetectable frequency.

_Zero._

The Lieutenant's stomach lurched into his throat, gently settling back down as the agile mobile suit dropped down fast. The software leveled the Mobile Suit's lance weapon and body, blasting it forward through the ether.

Captain Renault eyed her forces with selfish pride. "Finally," she started, her eyes tracking over towards a pulsing mark on the radar of her blazing red GN-XIII. "Even with this worthless pile of metal… I'm gonna _kill_ you!" she seethed. The girl allowed herself a grin, wishing that she could use the "personal" present that she had constructed, to herself, on that piece of trash girl Caerlise Alna. "Good things come to those who wait…" she started, her eyes glinting hard in an instant. "Daddy… watch me make you proud!" she laughed as the red mobile suit dove from the bay doors, igniting it's belching red Tau drive to morbid life.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: In Anticipation of Your  
Future Hardships**

**

* * *

**

The girl lay in the darkness of her room, deep in the throes of sleep, that much was apparent. Her lazy, sprawled, back-sleeper position was only accented by her sensually bare body, save for her clean white panties.

"Nehhhh…" Caerlise whined in her sleep, opening her mouth wide with a snore. She murmured loudly twitching hard. "Nrrrrgggggggg… ahhh…. Nooo…" The girl motioned with her foot, her head turning slowly. "Go… away…. No." Her hands trembled as her brow furrowed in nightmarish worry. "Stay… a-way…. Nooo… damn… you…-

The room suddenly flushed with blazing red light and blaring battle sirens, jerking the girl out from her hellish dream.

-CICADAS!"

The girl bolted upright with a start, slamming her head against the bunk bed above her with a loud "_thwack"_. Her forehead and neck exploded in a haze of pain, her head racking backwards. "…god… _DAMMIT!"_ she shouted in agony, seething her teeth in the midst of the white hot ache as she fell back hard onto her pillow. The disorienting lights and blaring klaxon weren't helping any.

_"Caerlise!"_ Jidane's voice sounded urgent over the room's com channel.

"WHAT?" she replied, clutching her head, shaking from the sudden turmoil.

_"We've got a situation brewing out there! Get to the Gundam as soon as you can!"_

"I'm _dying_ here…"

_"What?"_

Caerlise said nothing, instead she turned on her side to roll out of bed and landed hard on the cold floor. She emitted a guttural growl as she peeled herself off, stumbling through the flashing lights towards her clothes piled on the corner desk.

Everyday waking up back at Doc's was exactly the same, save for what she was dreaming at the time. Lise, ever the 'Five More Minutes Girl' usually got a rude, nude wake up call, followed by a similar morning routine.

One would figure she would be used to it by now.

_..._

* * *

-...-

"What the _hell's_ goin' on?" Lise shouted, tugging her jacket across her clothed shoulders as she jogged into the hangar bay.

"Hey Skirty! Everything's ready for ya!" Akio shouted after the fast moving girl, hauling a ream of Vulcan ammunition out of the way.

"Thanks! And I'll kill you for that comment later!" she shouted back, climbing down into the cockpit. She looked about, unzipping the back of her red right hand glove to pull out the I/O plug. She jacked in, reaching under her skirt with her other hand to retrieve her leg plug, connecting it in a flash. "Okay…" she started, the cockpit closing down on her. "Fight, fight, fight," she muttered as the cockpit screens blazed to life, the OS performing a startup system check.

All systems green.

"Jidane, pop the hatch!"

_"Not just yet!" _Kyrie's voice warned across the com.

"What?" The girl eyed the radar read out, picking up a swarm of enemies. "What the hell's goin on out there, chick?"

* * *

Jidane whipped his head around, spotting Akio hurry onto the bridge. "Take over the gun station," he called out, his voice edging worry. "Those aren't Flags out there," he muttered dashing over to the helm.

Kyrie's hands danced across her layout, sending as much information as she could to the Gundam.

* * *

_"Those are GN-XIII's,"_ Tieria started, a tone of concern in his voice ringing through the Gundam's cockpit. _ "…Dammit…"_

"Vowels?" The girl's eyebrow raised in surprise. "Man, I thought you'd have jumped ship first chance you got!" she laughed snidely.

_"Listen to him, Lise,"_ Jidane's voice scolded.

* * *

The boy's eyes tracked the enemy formations. "Those are GN-XIII units out there!"

_"Where the hell did they come from?"_ the girl's voice demanded across the channel.

"I'm not sure. I didn't pick up anything on the ship's radar!" Kyrie replied. "There's no carrier or anything on visual!

_"… Optical Camouflage!"_ Tieria piped up. _"Damn them… they had to have reverse engineered Celestial Being's technology."_

_

* * *

_

_"Caerlise, there's an enemy carrier somewhere in the ocean, but you will be limited to what you can see with your eyes,"_ Tieria said inside the cockpit,_ "be careful because it will be invisible."_

"Nice. So how the fuck am I supposed to see it?" She snapped back, tapping her finger angrily.

_"We will compensate for that… you will be using the Valkyria System."_

"The Valkyria?" The girl's expression slowly turned to one of challenge. "Why not just own everything out there with that KIWI drive?"

_"Unless you can guarantee its enhanced function, you'll be a sitting duck against those GN-XIIIs. The Valkyria represents dependable speed and agility, something we need right now."_ Tieria argued back, not accepting anything other than the obvious choice.

_"Everything should be set and ready to go," _Akio said over the link. _"Just start the swap out when you're ready!"_

_"Lise, be sure you locate that enemy carrier. Destroying that and protecting the ship are your top priorities!" _Kyrie's voice rang out.

_"Just don't go dying out there,"_ Jidane added with an audible grin of confidence.

"… Alright then," Caerlise said softly, feeling her adrenaline rise.

_"Activate the mode change,"_ Tieria stated flatly, conviction in his stoic voice. A glowing green button pulsated gently, high above the girl's head. _"Hit them hard and fast. I'll do what I can to try and locate the enemy carrier from here."_

"Got it!" she shouted with a grin, jamming the button with her gloved thumb.

The entire hangar bay vibrated as two autoloader arms swung about on the ceiling, grabbing components and swinging back towards the Gundam. Two more arms reached out and snapped hard onto the suit's shoulders, jerking its white armored arms off from its sides as the two other loaders swung in fast, snapping a new set of sleek, green armored arms in place. Each was rear swept with a fast aerodynamic look, numerous vector thrusters located underneath the broad, winglike shoulder caps.

Hard mounted on the left arm was a medium-sized circular shield with cables and hoses snaking all along the length of the arms and dynamic shoulder caps almost like an agile runner's veins; the right arm was also snaked with cooling cables and sported an oversized forearm with, only a semi reflective well where the hand would be.

In the rear, a large assembly pushed the green Enhanced Booster Core onto the Gundam's back, locking it in place. With a resounding "hiss," the unit synched with the Gundam's GN Drive, the spiraling engine humming to rapid life, cascading the hangar with blue particles.

The Gundam's auto systems synched the head to tilt up as a "Fast Flight" helmet attachment clamped down on both sides, replacing the suit's typical humanoid look with one much more abstract and smooth; the long, razor sharp silver chin piece was a stark sharp difference to the original, shorter and blunter one. Atop the head, a helm which dripped of aerodynamic prowess clamped down; over the eyes, a slit "mono-camera" slipped down from the top helmet, blazing green.

The Gundam stepped forward as two leg and feet attachments tracked around to the front on floor mounted supports. The Suit stepped into each as they locked down hard into place, providing enhanced thrusters and stabilizers on the back of the legs and feet.

"_Agilent_ change complete! _Valkyria_ Gundam online and ready to rock!" Caerlise stated confidently.

_"Opening the hatch!" _Kyrie piped up as the rear door cracked and gently opened to reveal the churning skies. _"We're at 20,000 feet, so try not to crash into the water, okay?"_ she joked.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Lise responded as the Gundam's enhanced vision hardened and darkened automatically. All over the screen, the now polarized vision cut through the glare and shadows of the sky, providing a much more defined, accurate field of vision.

_"Okay Lise. The Valkyria set up uses the DRC at 30% to automatically power it's systems when docked, so you won't have to worry about raising the gauge,"_ Jidane's voice stated.

"Yeah I can see that," she responded, noting the pulsating gauge reading 33% steadily. "So what have I got here?"

* * *

"Okay, mounted on your back is a light Beam Gatling. Don't expect it to really take anything down in one shot though. A couple of rounds oughta do the trick! On your left is a GN Solid Sword," the boy said, looking over the readouts at the ship's helm. "It should be hanging by your side from the bottom of the Enhanced Booster Core Pack."

_ "…Yeah I see it."_

"Careful with it because it's your last resort. Your right arm is the Beam Claymore. You're gonna have to get the DRC to at least 50% and hold it there in order to sustain the weapon. It generates a lot of heat, so try not to damage the refrigeration unit!"

_ "Refrigeration unit?"_

_

* * *

_

The girl looked about the status readouts, not picking up anything.

_ "It's located in the shield. All the cabling about the arms all connect to it and cool the boosters and the Claymore. Don't worry about overheating; it's really a high end piece of work."_

"Gotcha. So no other guns? Jesus you all really want me to pull out miracles, don't ya?"

The boy laughed in spite of himself, _"That's always the case with you, Lise! But no, the Claymore can act as a beam canon when the DRC's not at 50%. It's got a slow rate of fire, but it's more powerful that anything those 'Jinx' can throw at you."_

_

* * *

_

"Here they come!" Akio called out, setting the auto turrets to rapid fire mode.

* * *

"And here I GO!" the girl shouted back as the blue particle spewing, green and silver Gundam fell out of the _Pythagoras_. The Core unit's stabilizer wings slammed down horizontally; two more wings on the top and bottom of the broad stabilizers snapped up and down at an angle. With a resounding ether flashback, the _Valkyria_ roared forward in a haze of blue particles and thruster burn.

_..._

* * *

-...-

"All units, attack with everything you've got! Destroy that Gundam and their mother ship!" Captain Renault shouted loudly, her eyes blazing feverously as she watched the GN-XIIIs dive forward deep.

_"C-Captain! There's a new Mobile Suit!" _one XIII pilot's voice rang out

"What was that?" she asked, "that's impossible! That ship could never hold more than one Mobil-

The GN-XIII automatically evaded the incoming green beam of death, halting the woman in her tracks. "Did that… _GUNDAM_!" she shouted, ripping her flight helmet off irately. "All Units, focus on that mobile suit! BLAST IT OUT OF THE SKY!" The team blinked their confirmed status, rerouting course to barrel towards the Green Gundam type.

* * *

"Not if I can help it!" Jidane shouted angrily, hauling the ship hard in a tight turn, its beam cannons blazing in defense.

* * *

Caerlise dodged fire with the nimbleness of being in space. The sheer G-forces were crushing against her like crazy, but she dug down deep and held onto her vigor, finally tuning the relentless pressure out. "GO DOWN!" she shouted as the beam Gatling automatically tracked a target, pelting it with rapid fire. The XIII's lance exploded in a ball of fire as the _Valkyria _careened past it, rolling onto its back as more Gatling fire pierced its backpack, sending the suit up in a cascade of fire. "That's ONE down!" Lise sounded as the Gundam rolled again, her hair splaying within the cockpit. She felt her stomach lurch and twist, but she had to protect the _Pythagoras_!

A brave XIII broke formation and came from up high, stabbing its lance beam rifle hard into the Gundam's-

The Green suit rolled safely, as agile as any bird, and leveled its right arm.

For a brief second, green plasma seemed to suck into the charging weapon.

**ZAAAAM!**

The GN-XIII, now sporting a gaping hole in the cockpit, exploded shortly after as the Gundam sailed on through the sea of blue particles.

* * *

"Ahh! DAMMIT!" Kaino's XIII set forward and dived into the fray as-

_"LIEUTENNANT! GET BACK HERE AT ONCE!"_ the Captain's voice shouted loudly across the channel.

Kaino halted his motion as Zenna slowly sailed up behind him._ "You will do exactly as I say, Kaino. Stay by my side."_

"Zenna I-

_"SHUT UP!"_

The boy's angry expression turned sour, glaring at the girl's beautiful face in the pop-up vid window.

_"I want you to watch from here… watch how classless people are dealt with!"_

_

* * *

_

"Watch with me…" she said cruelly with a laugh, "watch as those rats squirm to survive!"

* * *

The Gundam held its arms out as it pulled a wide corkscrew ascent into the air, gently crossing its agile green and silver booster laden legs to help with vector control. The shining anti friction GN Coating on all green attachments greatly reduced drag and allowed the nimble weapon to knife through the air, belching blue GN Particles all the way. Caerlise could feel the blood rushing from her face and the G's pulling painfully on her neck.

"What the-

The girl could have sworn-

"Is that another _Gundam?" _she asked out loud as _Valkyria_ thrust its feet forward. The 'hidden' shoulder mounted verniers pivoted forward and roared violently in tandem with the feet and leg thrusters, halting its motion in a haze of thruster burn as the Girl's body moved fluidly with the sudden halt. Instantly a Federation XIII careened into view. The Gundam boosted hard backwards as the Girl saw the same scene played out in the sky above.

A Green Gundam retreating from a blue and white GN-XIII.

With a hard spat of blaze, the Gundam stopped and punched its right arm forward hard, gut checking the incoming XIII, instantly vaporizing a hole in its body with a beam blast.

Gundam boosted up high into the air, past an incoming cloud bank, coming face to face with-

"Son of a _BITCH_!" she sounded in surprise, facing a massive black airship. The Titan of the heavens glinted like black oil, its entire bottom half shimmering with a mirrored reflection of the surrounding sky. "Guys are you seeing this?"

_"Yeah, we just got a visual! They really were using optical camouflage!"_ Kyrie responded, marking the massive ship's position on her map. _"Looks like it was never a sea-bound carrier in the first place!"_

_ "It's a modified version of the optical camouflage, using the surrounding area to project an exact image against its surface!"_ Tieria said angrily.

"I'm takin' it out!" Lise shouted as she leveled the arm cannon at the _Elan_'s gigantic bridge, hearing the distinct "locked on" tone as the cockpit washed with red light. The enemy had her in its sights too.

Like the rains of destruction from heaven, a payload of micromissles cascaded from the bottom of the giant ship, every one twirling and cascading down towards the _Pythagoras_ below.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Caerlise shouted, canceling her lock to bolt down through the clouds, the auto Gatling singing for all it's worth against the missiles. "HOW THE HELL CAN THEY SEE YOU GUYS?" she demanded, dodging artfully between the deadly rain, shooting down EF suits where she could.

* * *

"Tieria! Run a full body diagnostic of the ship's exterior!" Kyrie shouted, glancing out the bridge window at a GN-XIII pelting the shielded _Pythagoras_ loyally.

_"Performing scan… Impossible! They must have planned this from the last skirmish!"_

On Kyrie's data screen, a blazing red blip shone brightly on the underside of the ship's schematic. "That's it! Caerlise there's a tracking device on our belly! You have to destroy it-YAAH!" The girl nearly fell out of her seat as the missile rain slammed hard into the ship's camouflaged, shielded top.

Jidane banked hard and steered through the storm, trying in vain to ignore the persistent XIIIs flying all about.

"C'mon… HIT DAMMIT!" Akio shouted angrily as the ships antiquated auto guns barely missed a GN-XIII. "This is impossible!"

Jidane gritted his teeth angrily. "CAERLISE!"

* * *

"I heard you the first time DAMMIT!" she replied, her eyes streaking tears from the sheer speed of combat.

* * *

Zenna shoved Kaino's suit to the side, blasting forward towards the green mobile suit. "DIE GUNDAM!" she shouted, letting loose a rain of fire on the fast suit.

"Shit Zenna, don't kill them!" Kaino seethed as he jammed hard on the controls, his GN-XIII bolting after the Gundam. "She'd probably hit me too with friendly fire… but EVEN SO!" The boy twirled his mobile suit hard once to increase his speed and careened past his Superior Officer. The _Jinx_ spiral slammed hard onto the Gundam's back, holding on tightly.

* * *

_ "Gundam Pilot! Give up at once! DO IT NOW!"_

"Kaino?" Lise asked in shock, hearing the Federation Pilot's voice through skin-talk. She spun the Gundam hard to toss the burden off its back.

* * *

The GN-XIII's cockpit rapidly heated up, taking the full brunt of the Enhanced Booster's heat and exhaust. Kaino pulled off his helmet, his face awash with sweat. "Caerlise? You're in this Gundam too?" he asked. How many Mobile Suits did this Celestial Being ship have?

* * *

"Get the HELL off me! Everyone's in danger- GET THE HELL OFF!" she shouted angrily, halting her boosters as she noted the damage delivered to the MS on her back. _Valkyria's_ enemy status display showed intense heat damage being dealt.

* * *

Kaino only gripped the GN-XIII closer, his cockpit flashing red warning lights. The entire front of the MS was a melted slathered mess. "I am _NOT_ letting you GO, CAERLISE!" he replied loudly. "Give up now and stop all this insanity!"

_ "Give up?"_

The Gundam boosted forward and stopped, attempting to jar the XIII off.

"YES! WE CAN CALL A CEASE FIRE! JUST GIVE UP ALREADY-

* * *

"WHAT THEN?" the girl interrupted, her teeth bared. "HUH? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENS TO US IF WE STOP NOW?"

* * *

Kaino jumped at the sudden fervor in her voice.

_"Are we just gonna be allowed to walk away? I don't fucking think so!"_ she added defiantly.

"… We'll think of something! The Federation will-

_ "No they WON'T!"_

_

* * *

_

Caerlise shook her head angrily, "They already have their pride hurt! They already think we're part of Celestial Being, but we're NOT! You and I both know they won't listen to a bunch of HIGH SCHOOLERS!" she shouted, twirling hard.

* * *

"…. LISE!" the boy shouted, his cabin lights burning out from the heat. Instantly he recalled his conversation with Col. Madera. He knew the Brunette was right on all counts.

* * *

The Gundam stopped again, the GN-XIII losing its grip.

"If I give up now, do you know what our fates will be?" Lise demanded, her eyes set forward towards the _Pythagoras_ maneuvering in and out of enemy fire.

* * *

Sweat fell into Kaino's eyes. He didn't know. "… I… I can't say…"

* * *

"… Well then." Caerlise breathed in deep. "I'm sorry but… I'm deciding our fates here, and now." Her eyes hardened in an instant. "WE'RE GONNA FIGHT-

The Gundam blasted straight up HARD as the MS on its back slipped off. The Gundam turned a hard somersault, kicking the melted suit down and out of harm's way

-TO LIVE!" she finished in a defiant shout as the Gundam angled it's beam canon underneath it's left armpit, firing hard at a GN-XIII that was on crash course with Kaino's disabled suit, taking it out completely.

* * *

The boy saw it all, wincing at the force of the Green Gundam's kick. Even while fighting for her life, she thought of him.

High above, the boy saw the Captain's blazing red suit careening towards the Gundam, readying the death blow. "ZENNA NO!"

* * *

"CAERLISE!" The red suit thrust its lance hard forward to pierce her nemesis. She had heard everything between her Lieutenant and the piece of trash.

The Gundam, still in pose from its previous shot was completely helpless.

With a scream of shorn metal, the Gundam's rotating body contorted through in an almost slow motion spin... the singing edge of the GN Blade, secured onto its forearm glinting far and wide.

Zenna's eyes were wide in shock, barely noting both severed arms of her mobile Suit sailing before her.

In real-time, the Gundam finished the spin move by grabbing hold of the red suit's head with its free hand, now covered in a thin layer of frost from the cooling unit. The Gundam blasted its angling thrusters hard and threw the mobile suit at the belly of _Pythagoras_, barely hearing the pilot's scream via contact.

_"Zenna?"_ Lise's mind shouted, watching as the red suit hurtled towards the GN Encased ship. "DROP THE SHIELD!"

Akio immediately obeyed just as the red suit slammed HARD into the ship, taking out the tracking device in one fell collision.

"DAMMIT! AHHHH!" Zenna cried out in defeat as the rear pack and Tau drive on her suit went up in a plume of scorching fire, her completely bum suit slowly falling through the air.

"Captain!" a lone GN-XIII managed to catch his falling S.O., hauling her back out of harm's way. The pilot checked his status monitors, noting that the Lieutenant's MS also had been successfully retrieved.

"GOD… _DAMN_ YOU CAERLISE!" the girl shouted irately, slamming her fist into the control console. "_ELAN_! LAUNCH THE TRANSPORT SHIP NOW!"

High in the air, the Aerial Titan released a black MS transport ship, its auto systems activating as it flew towards the retreating suits.

"EVERYONE… EVERYONE _KILL_ THEM!" The girl demanded in a white hot rage. She visibly shook from absolute hatred. Her gunmetal gray eyes were entirely drenched with a harrowed fury. She couldn't believe it… that _lowly_ girl had such a superior mobile suit! That Trash had bested her _TWICE_!

At once the remaining GN units broke towards the _Celestial Being_ mother ship, its GN Field activated once again.

* * *

"All units are converging!" Kyrie shouted, her eyes never wavering from the screen before her.

"We've got to get the hell out of here!" Jidane shouted over the numerous explosions and gunfire all around. He gritted his teeth, hauling back on the controls as the majestic ship's nose skyrocketed. The GN Condensers roared to reinvigorated life, propelling the _Pythagoras_ high and higher into the sky in a plume of blue particles.

"Jidane! What the hell are ya doin' man?" Akio shouted, noting the Green Gundam falling back fast, taking on the remaining suits.

_ "No, He's right!"_ Tieria barked, taking into account the full situation.

* * *

_ "Caerlise,"_ Tieria piped up, a magnified view of the ascending _Pythagoras_ coming into view, within the Gundam _"we've no choice but to make a break for outer space!"_

"WHAT?" the girl shouted, barely dodging fire as the Gundam did a barrel roll.

_"The main guns on the enemy ship will pick us off easily unless you destroy it. Destroy the carrier!"_

Lise set her mouth, nodding in confirmation. With a HARD lurch, the Gundam blasted all thrusters as the GN Drive roared loudly, boosting long and hard up high, high, higher still, on direct course towards the flying Titan. The girl eyed all of the blue and white suits shooting at her from behind. She was as good as a sitting duck!

The Gundam rolled and maneuvered as the auto Gatling took potshots behind her, horrendously ineffective.

_Protect them._  
_Protect them._

Her mind chanted it's mantra over and over again as the camouflaged ship came within marked radar range. With another gutsy pull from deep down, the GN Drive and thrusters gave another burst of speed, slamming the girl hard into the seat. She fought against the crushing force as her hair took on a dynamic flair.

The Gundam slapped the GN Blade back into its holding place, the weapon "hissing" off the socket with a burst of compressed air. _Valkyria _slammed the right arm down hard to its side, bracing the forearm with the left hand as the Refrigeration unit churned, cascading a gentle frost line higher and higher up the Gundam's bracing arm.

"Go, go, go, go…" Lise whispered through gritted teeth, eying the DRC faltering below 32%. "Go, go, go, go, go…"

She remembered Kaino's worried tone. He wanted them all to survive as well, even though he was forced to fight against them.

Her eyes narrowed as the carrier grew larger by the second. The DRC rocked up to 40%... 35%... 41%...

Spidery wisps' of plasma gently snaked out from the reflective arm well like green streamers of light, slowly twisting and braiding into a loose conical formation.

"Go, go, go, go…"

… 50%!

42%...

55%!

With a high pitched whine, the braided cone of plasma burst into a sweltering, wavering tornado of pure green energy, humming and pulsating wider and longer.

58%... 65%!

A spiral scream emanated from the arm well as a bright coil of energy traveled the length of the energy blade, exploding into a pillar of pure green light once reaching its apex. The blade screamed and seethed, crackling and ionizing the ether all about.

70%!

80%!

The plasma blade elongated in a burst of light, spearing multiple GN-XIII in one fell stab. The loud "locked on" tone rang through the girl's ears, knowing full well that she was flying straight into the gaping maw of hell itself.

* * *

A sudden piercing blade of light sniped the girl straight through the temple, and exited through the front of her forehead.

* * *

At least, that's what it felt like. Lise's eyes twitched at the sudden pressure she sensed from the Titan of the skies. It escalated to a near mind numbing anxiety which trailed from her head, down to the pit of her stomach in a microsecond. Something wasn't right. The girl gritted her teeth and directed _Valkyria _ever so slightly to the left…_ instinctively._

At that same instant, dual beams of undulating yellow energy belched from the _Elan's_ heavy assault beam cannons. The _Jubilee_ twins sang out loudly as _Valkyria _barely blasted just past their calibrated convergence point. The left side of the massive ship was more heavily stacked with supplies and munitions: Auto calibrations would compensate for the ensuing magnetic resonance destabilization by shifting the convergence several degrees to the right.

Lise let loose a jarring shout as the Gundam shuddered and rattled from the onslaught; the passing twin beams' magnetic destabilizing effect sucked the mobile suit hard towards the right. Instantly the Beam Claymore dissipated in a green flash of light. The Girl's eyes blazed determined as the status read-outs clamored information, displaying a resulting vacuum effect of the heavy beam's course line.

The Green Gundam's Shielded arm slammed hard into the continuous beam, melting the ice and cutting a swath on the shield's surface.

Lise's eyes blazed forward, never missing a step. She only had that one simple thought on her mind. Same as always. No scenario would ever change that.

_Protect. Them._

"…Go."

With a resounding spiral scream of energy the exposed refrigeration unit in the damaged shield almost warped the atmosphere surrounding it into pure ice as the Beam Claymore re-ignited in as grand a flash as when it had disappeared.

"I'LL SHOW YOU…

The thick sheet of ice now along the Gundam's left arm almost looked as if it were an exterior piece of armor.

THAT OUR FUTURE…

The beam radiated a hellish heat, rending the clouds asunder as it ripped through the banks, rearing back in a slight roll.

… IS… _LIFE!_"

The Green Gundam careened past the top of the massive ruler of the skies, dragging the length of the Beam Claymore along the ship, Caerlise's cry of defiance ringing loudly through the skies. Each horrifying second that passed, the ravenous energy blade split through metal, circuitry, flesh, and bone, finally rending the giant ship clean in two with a hard upward swipe.

The _Elan_ belched fire only once, exploding entirely in a grandiose haze of conflagration and molten metal.

The Caerlise didn't look back as the Gundam whipped its Claymore arm back down, extinguishing the blade in a haze of green energy particles.

_"GREAT job Lise!"_ Jidane's voice called out over the radio.

She didn't respond. All she could muster was a sigh of relief. Her friends were safe for the time being once again. "So where are you guys?" she finally asked out loud, a bright spot on her monitor flashing repeatedly. The Gundam worked its frozen left arm, shattering the ice as it pulled up sharply-

The warning lights flashed and an alarm sounded loudly "Shit… almost out of fuel…" she muttered as the scenery slowly faded to an unsettling blue and purple. Another alarm twittered as the secondary oxygen tanks began to fill the cockpit with extra air.

* * *

"Just follow the mark on-

"Trouble!" Kyrie interrupted, turning to the main bridge view screens. All over, the horizon appeared as a sickly black grey… They weren't in the atmosphere… but they weren't in space yet either…

_"I see what you mean,"_ Tieria interjected, setting a rendezvous course for the Gundam, as Kyrie siphoned data to the green MS.

* * *

"… Great…" Caerlise muttered, her adrenaline high finally wavering. A small video window displayed three large Federation Capital Ships maneuvering into a blocking, aggressive position. "Dammit! They're waiting for us, just to pick us off!" she punctuated by hitting the side of the cockpit with her left fist. Her gaze settled angrily. Just what was Zenna's plan? Did she orchestrate all of this?

_"Get back into the Ship. I have a counter-strategy."_ Tieria said calmly, surprising the girl. "…Hmmph!" With an unsettled grunt, the girl gently maneuvered the exhausted mobile suit over to the waiting hangar bay.

_…_

* * *

-...-

The brunette flailed her way onto the bridge, hanging onto the door frame for dear life.

First time in zero gravity.

She looked to see Jidane and Kyrie donning thick white normal suits, preparing for space combat.

"Here ya go, Lise," Kyrie started, reaching for another normal suit from a side emergency closet. "The feet have magnets in them, so you won't go flying all over the place unless you want to" she added with a grin, noting the girl's exasperated expression.

"Heh Thanks!" she replied, donning the suit as quickly as she could.

That damn skirt got in the way.

"Dammit Kyrie," Lise whined, finally hoisting the suit up and over her shoulders. "When this is all over, would it be too much to ask for a pair of pants like everyone else?"

The other two laughed lightly; not genuine laughter, but the nervous, foreboding type…

_"Alright everyone, listen closely,"_ Tieria started, pulling data files to display on the ship's main view window. _"Those images of the three Federation ships, the Bruker, Hitachi, and Dionex, were stolen from the Orbital Ring Defense computers."_

"What so you hacked them?" Lise asked, fixing her collar.

"Actually I did," Kyrie piped. She shrugged her shoulders, "If we were going into space, we had better know what was waiting for us."

_"Indeed. So as it stands, they still do not detect us. However, we can rest assured that the Earth Forces we've encountered have sent word about our escape to space. Expect patrols to be out in full force."_

"Alright so what's the game plan?" Jidane inquired, leaning against Kyrie's chair.

_"I've already informed Akio, that we will be utilizing the Braver Heavy Weapons Chassis to destroy those ships. It's the only way past them… we can't get over them, or under them-_

"So we just gotta go through 'em!" Caerlise finished with a grin.

_ "Exactly. All we will have is one shot."_

"Okay that's great, but the _Braver_ can't destroy three ships in one go." Jidane argued, shaking his head, "Yes it's got one hell of a lot of fire power, but enough to take out three ships?"

_ "The Braver alone can't… which is why we're going to use the Seraphim Cannon._

"The what?" Lise asked, her annoyance increasing with each passing second at the normal suit collar. It refused to cooperate! Kyrie got up from her seat to help the poor girl out.

"Those were in the linear notes… something about being able to sync up with the Orbital Rings, right?" Jidane asked, his mind churning. If the notes were accurate… it just might work.

_"Correct. The system was designed to synch the DRC to any of the three Orbital Elevator's High Orbit Ring solar condensers. In order to utilize the system, however, the Gundam must maintain a geostationary orbit in a specific location in order to charge the weapon."_

"And, considering how long it no doubt takes to charge, we would only get one shot off safely… heh…" Jidane turned to Caerlise who was wrapping sealing tape around her right hand, Kyrie doing likewise to her thigh. She had ripped the suit, letting the I/O cords gently float up in the absence of gravity. Her confident standing pose hit a chord within Jidane's heart. "It's your call, Lise."

The girl slowly nodded her head. "Sounds as good as any plan we've had so far," she started, meeting the boy's gaze with a grin. "You know," she started, rocking her head from side to side in jest with a growing grin "_ridiculously_ well planned out and all."

"Alright then," Kyrie said, standing back up and taking a seat at the navigation console, "We're going to drop you off here at point F. You'll need to high tail it to the geostationary point A. Don't worry, it'll be on your map," Kyrie instructed, showing an animation on her screen depicting what she said. "Once you're there, get the DRC up to 50% to start the Seraphim Cannon. After that, it's just ready, aim, fire!"

Caerlise nodded in affirmation, "And what about you guys?"

_"The Pythagoras will travel onward and act as a diversion, drawing the attention and forces of all three ships," _Tieria started, depicting the scenario on screen. _"It will be tough, but you all seem to be a fairly lucky group… I'm sure the mission will succeed._

The three kids all shared a glance, equally surprised at Tieria's friendly words of encouragement.

"Well… you heard the man," Lise started, turning towards the exit, "you guys keep it together…" With that, the girl kicked hard off the floor and sailed out the door, angling her body to sail down the hallway. "Hey K?" she shouted back

"Yes?"

"… PANTS. I'm holdin' ya to it, babe!"

_…_

* * *

-...-

Caerlise sailed into the hangar bay, the bold stench of burnt ozone knifing down her throat. "Uggh!" The girl waved her normal suited hand before her face, trying in vain to waft the scent away. She paused, looking high above at the Red Gundam. "… _WOW_…"

The Red Gundam looked painfully bulky, yet at the same time ridiculously powerful. Overall the MS looked like a squat Giant with brawny thick arms and legs, weapons adorning its body.

Gundam's head was shrouded by a thick, strong helmet casing, protecting the sensitive optics and giving the mobile suit the look of a champion boxer, well accustomed to taking hard hits. The contoured mouth's thick red full-jaw chin was reminiscent of a street fighter, or a hardened criminal. A single red command antenna stuck up and slightly forward in between the Gundam's silver V-fin, finalizing the look.

In the back, three long racks of missile pods jutted back, each one adorned with angled boosters and assorted thrusters design to move the behemoth; in between the racks, two long red wing-like panels "draped" down, almost like a majestic, two tailed red armored cape.

Across the Gundam's strapping chest, two thick red armored platings crossed underneath the armpits to seemingly caress the Mobile Suit, adding to its red and silver armored look. At each side of the burly waist, two long, wide bore Hyper Rail Rifles faced forward, ready and waiting to shred any and all who stood in its path with deadly physical ammunition.

Each thickly armored shoulder cap sported an automatic twin barreled beam canon while in each hand, the Gundam bore red and silver Hyper Mega GN Launchers, each shining brightly in the hangar's light.

Along each husky leg, GN Field emitters were noted and also racks of beam auto turrets, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

The _Braver_ Gundam.

Caerlise sprang forward, still in awe as a normal suited Akio sailed around from the front, landing on the grating before her. "Woo-wee! This no gravity thing is cash, ain't it? Sorry about the smell" he laughed, the girl paying him little mind. "That _Valkyria _cannon arm sure was toasty!" The boy looked back over to the red Gundam. "Big guy's something else ain't he?" he asked, slinging a tool box over his shoulder.

"Yeah I'll say! I'm kinda intimidated to even get in it!" Lise replied, grabbing hold of the ledge to stop herself from sailing off.

"Seriously?"

"No." the girl replied flatly. "Jesus kid, get with the program! I sit down, I blow shit up…" As she moved by him she tweaked his nose.

"Hey!"

"I got the best job in the house, haha!" She laughed, settling down into the cockpit. The hatch closed down securely, the feeling of pressurization making her ears pop. Lise quickly forced a yawn to re-equilibrate the fluid between her ears, jacking herself into the control console. The girl breathed in deeply, buckling up and reaching around behind the seat for her space helmet. The girl snuggled her head inside, secured the inner flap around her normal suit's collar, and set back, activating the helmet's teal visor shield.

* * *

_"Everything looks good on Braver's end, guys,"_ Akio said over the com channel, safe in the bay's airlock.

"Thanks a lot," Jidane replied. They had only known the kid for a few hours… Sure he had his oddities, but overall he wasn't such a bad guy… The boy checked and double checked the course heading, looking up at the maneuvering triad of ships on the separate video window. "I sure hope we know what we're doing…" he muttered. "Alrighty Lise, I'm poppin' the cork!"

* * *

"Roger that J-man!" Lise laughed back, holding onto the cockpit handle bars as the blackdrop of space gently glittered before her eyes.

Loneliness.

Solitude.

Peace.

All of these were represented by that singular black sight: a vacuum devoid of light, save for the gentle earthshine and glittering specks of far away photons.

"… I don't think I'll ever get tired of this sight…" Caerlise whispered, closing her eyes slowly. Just the feeling, that rush of being out here! It was so intense… a feeling that could never be topped.

_ "Nearing the drop point. Caerlise?"_

"…Yeah Vowels?" she replied, oddly relaxed in her Zen.

_ "… Good luck to you. Come back in one piece."_

"…Heh! I'm already halfway there!" she laughed in reply, her honey brown eyes popping open in an instant. The _Braver_ gave a valiant hop, falling gently out from the back of the _Pythagoras_.

The girl could have stay out there for hours…; for an eternity! She had never seen a scene so beautiful in all her 18 years of being alive. The big and bulky _Braver_ Gundam sailed gently through space… She looked to her left, noting the Moon, gently reflecting what light it was privy to. There was just something about seeing it in person; seeing a celestial body up close with your own two eyes…

"Alright… next time I'll see the rest with all of you guys," she whispered as the GN Drive, well hidden underneath all of the weaponry and armor plating spiraled to life. Bright blue GN Particles spewed in a random havoc to gently push the Gundam forward, the rear mounted engines blaring to life to speed the burly bruiser through space. She allowed herself a glimpse at the rear view screen, watching as _Pythagoras_ zipped through the darkness. Its blue condensers reminded her of a beacon of hope for their future.

The girl turned back around, eying the massive satellite array growing larger by the moment as she neared the synchronization point. "Just a little more…-

Warning lights flashed and alarms sounded within the cockpit. The Federation's Orbital Ring defense team!

"Tcht!" Lise gritted her teeth. "Should have known the welcoming party would arrive at some point…" A challenging smile crossed her face, "Sorry guys, I wasn't on the list… BUT I STILL BROUGHT A PRESENT ANYWAY!" With a defiant shout, the girl let loose a blazing round of rifle fire from _Braver's_ waist at the incoming swarm of Fed GN-XIII units, punctuating the barrage with a dual blast from _Braver's_ hand held GN Beam Launchers. She felt a mixture of horror and reverent awe at the sheer number of pink explosions which peppered the area surrounding her attack as she dove deeper into the fray as numerous enemy units zipped past her, attempting to take advantage of this giant Red Gundam's rear.

_Braver's_ leg mounted GN Field Generators roared to life, expanding a blue particle bubble all about its girth and height as the peppering beam fire splattered harmlessly away.

"Shit!" The girl swore, noting from the rear, a detachment of XIIIs barreling towards her. Her suited hand danced on the control console, detaching the hyper rifles from Braver's side with a burst of compressed air. The weapons drifted away, their rears suddenly erupting in bright engine fire to send them zipping up hard and away to automatically cover the Gundam's back with a wide spray of blazing rapid-fire slugs.

_Braver's_ dedicated auto turrets sang, making the lone Gundam appear to be sending rapid fireworks into the blackdrop of space.

* * *

"Looks like Lise's got company!" Kyrie stated out loud as the ship lurched down. Everyone had on their space helmets for if worst came to worst…

"So do we!" Jidane replied, twisting and turning the ship hard, barely missing a beam barrage from one of the three massive ships up ahead. "Everyone get ready for incoming mobile suits!" the boy shouted. "C'mon Caerlise…" he muttered, feeling his palms sweat underneath the suit.

"I'm on it!" Akio shot back, taking true aim and firing the ship's weaponry.

* * *

Lise shot rapidly into a crowd of XIIIs which immediately separated in a star burst formation; one barrel from the shoulder mounted auto cannons sniped one Fed suit in the face while the other barrel quickly finished it off. The girl was already perspiring. The constant weapon fire was jacking the cockpit temperature through the roof. She eyed her map screen… not that far away from the synch point-

Twin beams of energy belched from the High Orbit Ring's defense grid, striking _Braver_ hard, causing the GN field to flicker… and then slowly die away.

"DAMMIT!" the girl shouted, noting the Shield readout wavering just past operational range. It would take time to recharge… She leveled both handheld Beam launchers and fired hard in the direction of the blast, more and more GN-XIII swarming about her and pelting the large mobile suit relentlessly. Lise risked a weapon assessment:

Hyper Rail Rifle 1 was out…; automatically reloaded and back in the fray.  
Hyper Rail Rifle 2 was nearing exhaustion, ready to auto-reload as well.  
GN Field Generator had overheated. It would take time to be ready again.

_Braver_ braced back as the shoulder mounted auto cannons burst from their static locations; each cannon's double barrels separated to form four autonomous beam drones in total, zipping about the field, taking potshots where possible. There were just too many enemies!

"ENOUGH!" Caerlise shouted angrily as the main monitors picked up the heavy canon of the Ring Defense system up ahead. Lise took hard aim as the DRC racked up to 50%, charging both hand cannons.

There the Gundam floated like a sitting duck. No GN Shield and at least 50 remaining GN-XIII closing in for the kill.

"NOT… TODAY!" the girl shouted as all three missile racks opened up, sending a blistering fast salvo into the battle field with a resounding symphony of swirling exhaust trails. "I'M _NOT_ GONNA _DIE_!"

The Gundam let loose the massive beam shot towards the heavy Federation Cannons. The pink beak sailed through space, splattering and melting the Fed weapon on impact with a massive inferno. Simultaneously, each missile round exploded in a wild circus of micromissles, careening with random grace into the closing enemy.

Both Hyper Mega Rifles doubled back, raining random hell on anything or anyone foolish enough to get in their way.  
The zipping auto cannons took out any fleeing Federation units with wickedly deadly accuracy.  
The leg mounted auto guns continued to spit out rapid fire, finishing off anything that might have been disabled in the wild missile extravaganza barrage.

Absolute destruction. The Pilot and Gundam, ever as Brave as its namesake, plowed through the carnage with a gush of blue particles from its hidden drive towards the synchronization point, the DRC holding strong at 50%.

* * *

The _Pythagoras_ dodged and weaved its way through heavy cannon fire, picking off XIIIs when rarely possible. They had already taken quite a beating from the previous aerial battle.

"Shit!" Jidane swore through clenched teeth, banking hard left as an oncoming delayed barrage barreled out from two of the ships, the third making a tactical broad side turn as more mobile suits poured out and into the fray. It was all just too much! "Dammit! We're gonna die if we can't take the fight to 'em!" he grumbled angrily.

"More coming in on our six!" Kyrie warned, segregating the enemies into numerous battle zone classes across the ship's navigation station.

Jidane punched the control console with a gloved hand, bolting from the chair. "Kyrie! Try and maneuver the ship!" he shouted over the tumult, dashing over towards the exit.

"Jidane!"

"Just guide the ship! I trust you K!" he called back, turning to catch one last glimpse of her as he sailed down the hallway.

"The hell he ran off too at a time like this?" Akio demanded, as he angled the ship's weaponry, tracking an enemy and destroying it.

Kyrie only turned and reached for the control console at her station, hoping beyond hope for a miracle…

* * *

In the hangar bay, Jidane yanked hard on the _Valkyria's_ Enhanced Booster Core unit's hidden hatch, causing an angular cockpit to snap out from in between the ventilation systems. The boy kicked hard and sailed up and over to the waiting pilot's seat, settling himself down as he powered up the unit and sealed the canopy. "Controls seem simple enough…" he muttered as the OS performed a system scan.

All Systems Green.

The boy's hands danced on the controls as the hangar bay opened, revealing the firefight outside.

_"I'll be going with you," _Tieria piped up, his speech pattern appearing on one of the side console readouts. _"I can handle the vector controls. One less thing for you to worry about."_

"Thanks Tieria… I owe you one!"

_"Hmmph! If we survive this, you'll owe a bit more than that!"_ the voice replied with confidence.

"You got it man! _Valkyria_ Core, launch!" The Fighter Jet type mobile weapon floated out of the bay and hit space full throttle, the stabilizer wing array slamming down and popping open. Jidane crashed back hard into the seat, the sudden acceleration nearly making him black out. The plane banked hard and zipped towards the front of the _Pythagoras_, its top mounted beam Gatling singing loudly against the enemy.

The green fighter changed approach vector nigh instantaneously lifting hard and twirling to the left, shooting all the while.

_"Jidane!"_

"I'm okay!" the boy shouted back to the Tieria, "even I'm no PUSHOVER!" he punctuated, ripping a GN-XIII in two with gunfire.

* * *

_Braver's_ GN field roared to life, surrounding the Red Gundam in a sphere of blue particles as finally it reached the synchronization point. All over the defense system's turret grid hammered the Gundam relentlessly, the GN Field deflecting every shot. The computer controlled flying weaponry all encircled the defense weapons, trading shots back and forth until all of the _Braver's_ rifles and auto turrets ran out of ammunition and power, easily destroyed.

Either way, the Fed defenses were finally wiped out.

"Dammit… start the synch up!" Lise confirmed, inputting commands into the control board layout. She eyed the DRC gauge, as a side bar appeared in yellow, slowly building up to the DRC's steady 55% reading. In the back of her mind she marveled at how controlling the DRC seemed to be such a finicky task. "Alright _Braver_… let's see those wings!"

_Braver_ shuddered as the GN Field expanded wider. With a fluid motion, the "twin tailed cape" behind the Gundam slowly rose up on armored hinges simultaneously as the red armored panels along its chest gently rotated down and outward. The lower set of wings extended to effectively form an 'X' shape with the two from the back. Both sets of "wings" unfolded outward to reveal an intricate array of energy condensers.

The Gundam held out both arms wide, releasing the GN Beam Launchers which each rotated a half turn at the barrel, too unfolding to reveal energy condenser linings. The back end of each launcher extended to automatically connect to the main power pack located on the Gundam's back, snapping into place.

Six wings. The Seraph had awakened.

Lise nervously shook her leg up and down, truly believing that doing so could speed up the process. "C'mon… c'mon…!"

* * *

"GA-HUK!" Jidane was tossed about inside the Core's cockpit, struggling through to point the nimble fighter where he wanted to go. "Go down!" he shouted, giving chase to a dodging mobile suit, cutting deep into it with the Gatling. The suit made a hasty right hand turn, blasting hard away. Jidane paid it no more mind, whipping his head around just in time to see a fast incoming GN-XIII level its lance for a spearing attack.

The Green fighter spiraled hard and nudged the GN's foot sending the blue suit spiraling into another XIII, both of them exploding on impact.

Jidane willed the nausea away as he gave chase to another enemy.

* * *

"… Four minutes… c'mon!" Lise seethed as, wisps of yellow plasma began to stream from the energy condensers trailing like breaths of light to a focal point 2 kilometers away from the Gundam. The numerous wisps touched at the tip, crackling with electricity as a pulsating orb of yellow energy gradually formed. With each pulsation the orb expanded hard outward spanning a 1km radius of pure energy.

With a loud 'hiss,' the six wings gently angled inward as the blue GN particles bleeding from the hidden drive mingled with the yellow orb of energy, forming a second GN Field about it. With each pulse the GN field fought to constrict the growing yellow mass. "Five minutes!"

"Hey there's a HUGE energy reading!" Akio shouted loudly, seeing the sudden spike in the battle radar.

Kyrie pulled up the visual,: a shrinking yellow mass of light shrouded by a GN Field. "That has to be Lise!" she shouted, diving the ship down hard and to the right, banking to get out of the way.

Jidane caught sight of the shrinking yellow light as he blasted down hard and away, tailing the _Pythagoras_.

Caerlise watched as the yellow meter finally reached its maximum, the yellow orb now only the size of the Gundam itself. "All charged! READY?" she shouted, her eyes blazing wild.

"GO!"

…... Nothing.

The Yellow mass instantly compressed into nothingness, the blue GN field now surrounding empty space.

All along through space, ghostly wisps of electricity and plasma played about gently, almost marking a straight path towards the blockade triad of ships-

In an instant, a band of light, hotter than a solar flare erupted in space. The yellow hell beam careened towards the ships, two kilometers in diameter at break neck speed. There was absolutely no time to react. The ravenous light immediately devoured the _Dionex_, striking the regal ship head on; the _Hitachi_, angled behind the _Dionex_ first slowly melted into wisps of metal before being over taken by the solar death. The _Bruker_ which had been maneuvering earlier was brushed by the beam, its entire left side completely melted away from the sheer heat and destruction.

The _Pythagoras_ shook hard from the sheer impact of the blast, every warning on the ship sounding off in unison. "JIDANE!" Kyrie shouted, her eyes wide with terror at the immense destructive power.

The Green fighter didn't signal nor return communications as it zipped in front of the ship, rolling to fire at a distracted XIII.

The Flashback from the still ongoing attack slammed hard into the _Braver_, the GN Field faltering for one moment, and then being completely blown away. The searing heat slammed into the Red Gundam, the cockpit roasting like an oven. "_Dammit!_" Lise shouted, her voice barely audible to even herself over the noise. The heat and vibrations were so intense!

Finally the attack subsided, the solar beam continuing past the battle field into regions unknown.

_Braver_ crackled and hissed as the battered wings closed back and folded. One of the chest wings snapped off and floated uselessly out to space. Caerlise checked the monitors, surprised to see the heavily wounded Fed ship still maneuvering to engage the _Pythagoras._ "Dammit!" Lise fired the boosters hard as the GN Drive sang to life, propelling the battered and broken Gundam forward. _Braver_ reached for both GN Cannons but on impact crushed them to dust. Lise winced at the damage, shaking her head as the suit continued on towards the far off _Pythagoras_' hangar bay

_…_

* * *

-...-

"JESUS CHRIST LADY!" Akio shouted in surprise, seeing the battered Gundam step into the hangar bay, numerous explosions going on outside. Practically every red armored panel was melted and warped.

_ "Just shut up and get the Valkyria read-y!" _Lise's loud speaker voice snapped back as she met resistance to opening the cockpit. The Gundam' auto systems parked the battered suit as the control arms rotated and struggled to free the jammed parts from the Gundam. The girl kicked hard at the cockpit from the inside, finally getting it to budge. She _kicked_ again, this time the hatch popped open. She stumbled out and into the free zero gravity, catching herself fast.

"No can do, Skirty," Akio replied back, "Jidane's in that thing fighting them all off!"

"What?" Caerlise grabbed the unsuspecting boy by the collar of his normal suit and hoisted him up, throttling the poor kid. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?"

The boy voiced his discomfort as Lise's eyes softened in pure concern. _"Jesus, Jidane…!"_ she whispered, shaking her helmeted head as she let the boy go. "Well then hurry it up with getting all this armor off! I have to go back him up!"

"It's gonna take time!" Akio retorted. "You practically nerfed the entire weapons frame!" the boy complained as he sailed up hard, landing atop the Gundam's arm. He kicked the red armor hard several times as the loader arm attempted to pull, finally prying the warped and now useless armor off.

Caerlise followed his lead on the leg armor, helping any way she could to get the loader arms to do their job the way they were supposed to. Her mind raced madly. When she was out there, getting shot at, it wasn't so bad… All she would think of was her friends, safe and sound. "…What the _hell_ was he thinking?" she seethed, lodging herself in-between two sections of leg armor, using her lithe body to help jack the two halves apart as the autoloader took care of the rest.

"Would ya quit worrying? Jeez lady you're freakin' me out!" Akio demanded loudly as the rear loaders latched onto the Gundam's battered rear pack and pulled the assembly off, cracking one of the majestic "twin tailed cape" tails in the process. "… Nice…"

"Listen asshole! If it wasn't for you, none of us would be here-

"DAMMIT LADY! Just let the guy…" Akio strained, grabbing hold of the Gundam's chin as the loaders pried the heavy helmet apart. "… Just let him fight it out! You're not the only capable one here! Just let him be a man!"

Caerlise motioned to retort, but stopped herself.

"Yeah, exactly," the redheaded boy started, landing on the ground to help with the Gundam's other leg armor. "How's that scared shitless feeling taste for ya, huh?" he laughed, pulling hard at the armor pieces.

Lise kicked up hard, fighting the uncontrollable urge to cry and shout. She landed atop the open Cockpit's blast door."… I just-

"Well they all feel that way when you're out there. Getting shot and stabbed at…" Akio stepped back for the loader arm to swing in and give a valiant attempt at pulling the armored parts apart…

Success!

The brunette's mind worked feverously, thinking up 101 different ways the boy could die out there. She looked down, her hands trembling. For the first time since the underground hangar, she heard her own breathing: rapid and shallow.

"Hey," the boy started. He kicked hard off the ground and floated up to where the girl was, landing beside her. She didn't even have the will to fight back as she usually would have. "Don't worry, I'm about to crap my pants I'm so scared too!" He gave a grimacing smile of reassurance.

Lise only looked at him, shaking her head. "…It's… so different, not being the one who's protecting everyone… Scary… even…" she whispered, her honey brown eyes displaying an uncharacteristic genuine terror.

"I bet… and yet," Akio started, turning to watch the loader arms swinging back around to snap Agilent's white armored panels back into place along the Gundam's silver frame, "… you're gonna keep on fighting anyway, right?"

Caerlise only looked at him, blinking rapidly. Why did he seem so calm and cool at the moment? The boy slipped down from the opened hatch and into the cockpit, giving it a fast once over.

"I mean look at you… you're a touch chick and all, it just makes sense you feel best when out there protecting your friends. Me? I like messin' around with cars and bombs… the occasional Gundam, ya know? Haha!" He hopped out of the Gundam's cockpit and landed on the metal walkway. He looked back at the girl, flashing a cheesy grin. "I do what I can, when I can… and it helps me feel not so anxious. You'll be back out there in no time! Seems like fighting is where you're not so anxious, ya know?"

Lise only looked at him, her eyes slowly softening into a smile. "Heh… you've got me figured out, huh?"

"Are you kidding me? Jesus lady you're the most complex onion I've ever met… doesn't mean I'm gonna quit trying though! Guess that's just how _Naraku_ operates, ya know? Never giving up, no matter what, and all that!"

"You're not getting into my pants, asshat!" she grinned, turning with arms held outward for balance and hopped off the MS, landing on the metal walk path to watch as the loader arms removed the broken "chest wings", replacing the removed red armor with armor for the Gundam _Agilent_.

Akio shook his head and laughed, placing his hands on his hips. He nodded, himself lost in memories past.

"It's Andy."

Lise turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"… Andy Wilson," the boy finished, still gazing ahead. "Just a Plain Jane name, really."

Lise's brow furrowed, finally realizing what the boy was talking about.

"A couple years back, my parents and I were caught up in that terrorist attack in downtown LA… man that was some crazy shit… I still can't believe I'm alive, ya know?" The boy slowly rocked back and forth, his mind elsewhere. "I kept on runnin' away from every orphanage they stuck me in. Man I _hated_ having to be told what to do! Only my folks could get people to do stuff and actually WANT to do it, not bitchin' at them, or guilting them into doing things… That's when I decided I wanted to be someone different. Someone stronger than those morons out there who think they know best, ya know? So, I mean, I started calling myself Akio Tanaka. It means "A Glorious hero… in the center of the rice paddy."' The boy shrugged, "I loved rice as a kid! Still do."

"How do you know Japanese anyway?" The girl asked, her arms still crossed.

"Well, my dad worked a lot with Japanese business men doing… uhh… business I guess. In the meantime my mom would take their wives and teach them English and stuff. The ladies would teach me some Japanese too, while they were at it. Heh, it was pretty nice…"

The boy breathed in deeply, crossing his arms. "Anyway, after they died, I couldn't be bothered with normal schooling ya know? Just wasn't my thing anymore. Plus I kept runnin' away all the time… I wound up staying with this old man who used to fix cars and bikes and stuff downtown. Real nice old man. He didn't say much but he was a kind person… I just helped him one day fixin' some small machines and then he started letting me work on cars. Guy was a total Mobile Suit buff too." Andy laughed to himself, feeling his eyes water. "… I miss ya mom… pop… old man…" he whispered, barely audible to the girl.

Caerlise took it all in. Everyone had a story.

"…Why are you telling me all of this? I barely know you, Aki- I mean… Andy." Lise asked out loud, her eyes tracking the boy's movements with a curious concern.

The boy shrugged. "I dunno…I just felt like I could, I guess." The boy laughed, "After the old man, I never really met someone I thought I could just open up to like that till I met you! Yeah you like to punch and kick people but… it's like you really know what's going on inside someone's head. Eh, maybe not their head… you're no psychic or anything… more like, what's in their heart, ya know? Like you know what drives a person… you just understand people. You're genuine, ya know?"

Lise's head tilted to the side, a lazy smile crossing her beautiful face, her eyebrow cocking higher in amusement. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"Yup! Sure do! And it looks like you're all set here," Andy said as he kicked off the metal walkway, sailing over towards the exit lock. "Don't die out there, Caerlise!"

"Hey! Just call me Lise… I guess you've earned it!" the girl called back with challenge.

"Only if you keep calling me Akio! Guess I'm just so used to it now!" The boy laughed, giving a quick salute her way as the lock slammed shut.

Caerlise breathed in deeply as she sailed into the cockpit, sitting back in the chair. The white cockpit closed as the GN Drive roared to life.

_"Lise! I can't get a hold of Jidane!"_ Kyrie's worried voice called over the channel.

"I'm going out there, no worries K," Lise replied as she jacked in, the Gundam's eyes blazing blue. The spiral hum of the GN Drive filled her ears… she had gotten so used to its sound. The torrent of blue particles filled the hangar as the doors opened wide revealing the glittering blackdrop. Caerlise set her gaze as the Gundam swooned forward and fell out of the bay, blasting hard towards a small skirmish. "Jidane… hang on!"

* * *

Jidane's head thrashed from side to side like a ragdoll, trying in vain to roll with the numerous hits the _Valkyria_ Core was taking. The green armored fighter plane was battered and bruised, sparking already like mad.

_"We're almost out of power," _Tieria said, an energy indicator flashing madly on the console.

"Looks like it… but we're not through yet!" Jidane shouted angrily as he pulled back hard on the controls, barely dodging a GN-XIII's lance blast. _Valkyria_ doubled back around, it's Gatling blazing to life.

With a swoon of blue particles, the _Agilent_ careened past the ailing craft, firing its forearm Vulcans with pristine accuracy. The XIII was reduced to a riddled mess as it fell silent, drifting lifelessly through space.

Jidane slowed the green craft as the Gundam rolled and headed back in his direction, slowing down to grab hold of the cockpit with its nimble manipulators. "Lise!" the boy whispered, completely exhausted. He watched as the Gundam's cockpit hatch popped open, a white normal suited figure exiting.

Caerlise kicked hard off the Gundam's waist sailing towards the _Valkyria's_ cockpit, making out the pilot who turned to look in her direction. She reached the ship's side, pulling hard on the canopy control arm as she slipped inside.

Jidane was powerless to stop the girl who hopped in and straddled him closely, the cockpit sealing shut again. The girl touched her helmet to his, holding his body close to hers.

They both deactivated their helmet visors, each one sharing a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay? The girl asked worriedly, her eyes shaking in anticipation.

"Ahh… yeah… just a little banged up though-

_**PAAAUNCH!**_

Caerlise's eyes were on livid fire, her mouth contorted in a sneer of annoyed disgust as she reeled from punching the boy square in the face. "What the HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" She shouted, her fist shaking angrily. "YOU COULD GET KILLED OUT HERE DUMBASS!" she continued all the while punching the battered boy repeatedly in the stomach and sides. "AND WHY THE _HELL_ WAS YOUR RADIO OFF? WHAT ARE YA, _STUPID_? I WAS CALLING YOU FOR LIKE, FIVE MINUTES STRAIGHT!"

"I'm sorry it was an accident! I really WILL DIE IF YOU KEEP HITTING ME YA MORON!" The boy shouted back, cupping his hands about his pain filled face.

Lise only glared at him, her eyes slowly shaking with tears. "You… damned fool!" She whispered, embracing the boy in a hug, holding him close.

Jidane's brow fell in embarrassment, his eyes softening. He returned the hug, holding her tightly.

"… Don't you ever… _ever_ do that again… ya hear?" She whispered. "Even if I'm dying, getting torn limb from limb… don't ever go and do something this dangerous again…"

The radar picked up the remaining GN-XIII team launching from the rear of the damaged _Bruker_, each one rapidly approaching the lonely ship.

"Guess we've got company," Jidane said, staring into Caerlise's eyes. She held his helmeted head, taking in every one of his features. "I'm okay, really!"

She couldn't explain the love she had for him. Ever since that day, all those years ago, she felt as if she had to protect the kid… He was like a little brother to her... even though they too were the same age. The girl's brow furrowed angrily. "Get your ass back to the ship! I'll handle those guys.

"In just the _Agilent_? Lise you can't-

She shut him up by activating his helmet as she reached up and activated hers, popping the canopy one more time. _"Don't worry about me,"_ she said via skin-talk, holding his hand. _ "This Gundam fights for our future, too…"_

The boy and girl's hands separated, their fingertips calling to each other as she sailed out of the cockpit. She gave a confident thumbs up and rolled with her momentum, landing on the Gundam's finned pelvis, setting back into the cockpit as the hatch closed.

* * *

_"… Just because you're so forgetful,"_ the girl's voice said over the radio with an audible grin.

The boy shook his head. "I swear it was an accident jeez!" the boy laughed in spite of the situation. "Caerlise…"

* * *

_ "… Come back alive to us, alright?"_

Lise nodded, affirming the boy's request over the channel. "Right after I swat down a few flies!" The Gundam turned in a swirl of blue particles, activating-

A single red beam of GN infused energy pierced straight through _Valkyria's_ booster block.

Caerlise barely caught sight of the frozen image of sudden, polarized carnage. Her eyes were wide in shock.

* * *

Onboard _Pythagoras_, Kyrie felt a pull in her heart, her frozen shout ringing silently through the ship as she saw the red, death beam piercing the ailed craft. On the bridge, Akio watched in unmoving shock as the craft's engine got impaled on the red energy spike.

* * *

Within the cockpit, Jidane's eyes were wide in surprise. He felt a slow rumble behind him-

The fighter's engine block exploded in a ball of yellow and pink, flipping the ship's remains off kilter in all directions.

* * *

"…." The girl was silent in a dead shock. "...Jidane… _JIDAAAAAAANE!_" Caerlise shouted through a haze of tears and astonishment as the cockpit of the _Valkyria_ jettisoned off in a flash of blue smoke, flipping through space away from the consuming explosion-

Two more red shots pierced the escaping cockpit's rear booster engines, the first knocking the engines off line, the second sending the pod flailing away.

* * *

_"JIDANE!"_ Tieria shouted loudly over the com. The boy slumped forward in the crackling, tumbling cockpit, unresponsive. _"Dammit!"_

_

* * *

_

Caerlise couldn't believe the scene. She would NOT believe the scene.

She remembered the same cold sensation of death.  
That same 8 year old, never forgotten sensation.  
The explosion down town.  
The falling dust and debris.  
That terrified look on his 10 year old face…

Saving him…

Caerlise gave a harrowing cry, tears streaming from her eyes as the Gundam's GN drive flared rabidly, jamming it through space towards the floundering escape pod-

The Gundam was halted immediately, a blazing yellow beam saber pointed at its chest. _"That's as far as you go… GUNDAM!"_ the com squawked, Zenna's voice ringing loudly through the cockpit.

* * *

"Or should I just say, "there goes your buddy?" Eh? _CAERLISE_?" Zenna shouted with morbid glee, eying the white Gundam through her mobile suit's brand new camera system.

This new mobile suit… white and black… It had an odd elegance about its lithe body. Its long face had obvious hints of a Gundam influence. On the corner of each shoulder cap, a blazing red Tau Drive roared, belching the toxic particles about.

* * *

Caerlise's eyes were on livid fire. "… Zenna…. _ZENNA_?"

* * *

"That's one rat down. Time to sift through the rest of the Trash!" the girl replied with a sadistic laugh.

* * *

"GODDAMN YOU!" Lise shouted irately as the Gundam blasted to the side, paying no mind to the girl, bolting after the pod-

_"NOT SO FAST, TRASH!" _the voice warned sternly across the com.

* * *

The white and black mobile suit leveled the beam rifle it held in its other hand at the escape pod, it's blazing red eyes never once faltering from the Gundam. "If you so much as try going after that piece of filth, so help me God…" The girl's grin reeked of psychotic ecstasy, "I'll make sure there's nothing left to CREMATE! I AM YOUR ENEMY, CAERLISE ALNA!"

* * *

Lise watched as the _Pythagoras_ made a daring break for the pod, the white and black MS paying it no mind. Caerlise blinked, her tears growing cold. _"My Varian is superior to your Gundam in every possible way!"_ the girl's voice taunted over the com channel. Caerlise didn't care.

She didn't care anymore at all.

All she wanted was-

The girl's eyes perked, feeling a trembling sensation in her heart. Caerlise blinked rapidly, feeling that same searing burst of light splitting her head straight in two, painlessly… just like before.

She could feel him.

She could _feel_ Jidane's life…

"…Jidane…" she whispered, setting her lip defiantly.

She knew who she was.  
She was a fighter.  
She fought for the lives of her friends.

Her friends were all still alive.

The Gundam turned to face down the foe. Caerlise's still wet, visored eyes glared at the beautiful black and white mobile suit, unable to control the burning hot urge to protect her friends from further harm. "Tieria," she started, a new found vigor in her voice, "What do you got for me?"

_"I've got a close match, but not quite," _the voice said as data screens popped up on the main view. An elegant, feudal Japan inspired mobile suit's data design made a near perfect overlay on this new enemy. _"It's based on the Susanowo's function and design it seems… with changes."_ Tieria continued, noting the obvious facial and armor variations, duly noting the two conical Tau Drives on each shoulder. Overall the _Varian_ looked more 'Gundam-like' than 'Flag-like.' _"It was a high performance custom mobile suit used by A-Laws one year ago. A good friend of mine faced off against that enemy…"_

Caerlise felt a renewed sense of fighting spirit. "Just couldn't stop spending money, could you, 'Rich Bitch?'"

* * *

Zenna growled, her black space suit and helmet accenting her sensual curves perfectly. "Only the best, buy the best! I had this _Varian_ built the moment I joined the Corp of Cadets. It was a testament to my future superiority!"

_"Those are some pretty badass words from a pilot who's not exactly more than mediocre!" _Lise's voice taunted over the com channel.

"Tcht!" Zenna's gray eyes blazed behind her helmet, "Trash and classless to the end! I'll show you the power of my _VARIAN_!" The white and black mobile suit's dual Tau drives ramped loudly, ravenously spreading more and more toxic particles, infesting the area.

* * *

Caerlise watched the horrific sight. So much hatred and malice emanated from that mobile suit.

No.

From that pilot. Caerlise could _feel_ it. She could feel the pressure of that person's emotions…

"… Jidane's life… Kyrie's… even Andy's…" The girl grinned, "Hell, even you, Tieria! You have people to meet again too, don't you?"

_ "The road is never easy, but that never stopped us. Not Celestial Being."_

"Well then… Let's go!"

_Agilent_ shuddered as the DRC rose up to 55%, wavering positively. With a sudden deluge of blue GN Particles, the white mobile suit drenched azure, ramping in its shimmering glow as the spiral hum of the GN Drive grew louder and louder, the sheer number of blue particles quickly out numbering the red.

* * *

"GUNDAM!" Zenna shouted angrily. "You'll fall… you'll fall you damn bastard! And then I'll rip you out of it… and squash you like an insect in my fist…! CAERLISE!"

* * *

The Gundam drew its blazing red beam saber, blasting towards the enemy. Lise's eyes were on determined fire! "This will be-

* * *

-THE END!" Zenna shouted loudly, red twin drives blazing into the final duel.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: And Now…  
In Anticipation of Your  
Insight Into the  
Future…**

* * *

Both mobile suits clamored and clashed hard into one another repeatedly, slashing and blocking with their melee weapons as the two corkscrewed higher into the void of space, never relenting.

Zenna laughed wildly, fully enjoying the _Varian's_ obvious edge in speed and power, despite the Gundam's blue glow. "HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE IN AN UNEVEN FIGHT, CAERLISE?" the girl demanded tauntingly, leveling the beam rifle and taking a shot at the swerving blue suit.

* * *

"Shit!" Lise swore as the Gundam rolled hard, barely blocking the beam blast with its shield. The Gundam's arm slammed back from the force of the blast, nearly ripping it out of its socket. The girl gritted her teeth as _Agilent_ bit down and increased its speed, slashing hard with its saber. The girl's face was awash with sweat, struggling to keep up the pace of the deadly fight as the two suits power locked their melee beam weapons, each trying to get the upper hand. The beam weapon's destabilizing interference caused each to spike violently in power, sending a cascade of sparking electrons showering into the void. Crackling electricity coursed through space at the collision of plasma against plasma.

* * *

"You're so antiquated Caerlise! With your cybernetic parts and that ancient Gundam! HAHA!" _Varian_ swung its beam rifle up high, a blazing yellow bayonet beam edge erupting from below the barrel. The girl swung down hard on her nemesis.

* * *

Lise pulled back on her saber, grasping it with both of the Gundam's hands, barely creating enough room on its red 'blade' to block the second melee weapon. The Sapphire Suit locked in close, its blazing baby blues glaring deep into _Varian's_ malice drenched crimson eyes.

_"Do you see it now, Caerlise?"_ the girl's voice taunted across the channel.

* * *

"This is how CLASS and SUPERIORITY prevail over all else!"

_ "DUMBASS!"_

_

* * *

_

"Class is just something idiot humans created to justify themselves! WHO GIVES A DAMN IF I HAVE TO DO A DIRTIER JOB THAN YOU?"

_"Well if you can do better, then PROVE IT!"_ Zenna's voice replied as Varian slowly overpowered the Gundam.

* * *

_"Small minded people just HAVE to feel justified!"_ Lise's voice spoke.

"So now you're insulting me?" the girl laughed, enjoying her high ground.

_"I'M TELLING YOU YOU'RE WRONG!" _the girl shouted back, blue GN particles saturating the space of the battle ground.

"… Heh…"

_Varian's_ black chin piece slid down and the faceplate severed in two on hidden tracks, its lower jaws splitting apart like an insect's mandibles to reveal a gaping reflective maw in one sickeningly frightening motion.

"DON'T YOU DARE _JUDGE_ ME!" Zenna shouted back, her eyes crazed with revenge. The head mounted beam cannon breathed in deeply as the Gundam blasted backwards through the blue swarm. With one resounding belch, _Varian_ fired its yellow beam cannon at the retreating mobile suit.

* * *

Lise angled hard and zipped past the careening ball of energy, looking up as the _Varian_ leveled its beam rifle and fired repeatedly, intermittently peppering the field with its head cannon. "I'm telling you, money and power aren't everything!"

All across her radar layout, the detachment of GN-XIII swarmed about the ailing _Pythagoras_, picking it apart second by second. "Shit!"

* * *

"PAY ATTENTION!" The white and black suit swooped down on the distracted blue suit and took a clean shot at its abdomen and face. The Gundam seemed to double over from the first shot and then fall backwards in space from the second, its left eye lens cracking and fading out.

* * *

"DAMN YOU!" Lise immediately counterattacked with the beam saber now in _Agilent's_ left hand, her attack blocked easily by _Varian's_ melee defense. The girl grinned, delivering a Vulcan barrage right fist straight into _Varian's_ torso-

The Suit was nowhere in sight…!

_ "BEHIND YOU GUNDAM!"_

The mobile suit spun about in its blue haze to see from its functioning eye camera a shimmering red _Varian_ discarding its spent rifle, drawing from its side a sharp heat katana. The enemy suit was basked in a red hot blaze, both its Tau Drives screaming for death and destruction.

* * *

"That's right Caerlise! The true face of superiority! TRANS-AM!" Zenna jammed on the controls, hurling the blazing _Varian_ towards the shimmering blue Gundam as it swung its melee weapon.

The suit barely put up a guard as the grievous heat blade sank deep into its more than spent medium shield, severing the front half clean from its left arm. The blade continued to bite into the suit, slashing it deeply across the chest and face. The blow landed hard and shattered the Gundam's already cracked eye.

* * *

The force of the impact rocked Caerlise to and fro, the seething heat from the weapon splaying across her suited body. The girl's eyes sprang open wide when her helmeted head slammed hard onto the side wrap around panel of the cockpit. For an instant her vision blanched; the only noise she could hear was the dull ringing of her eardrums recovering from the collision.

Caerlise's head slammed forward hard as the seatbelt she wore dug deeply into her normal suited body; she could still feel the sting of the initial impact deep in the center of her sternum.

The view monitors cracked hard and splintered loudly. The left most panel shattered, stabbing a sickeningly long blade of thick glass-like material through the girl's helmet, racking her head back into the headrest.

Lise cried out in pain, but quickly silenced herself, forcing her psyche to focus on the situation at hand. She blinked, unable to make out the interior of the cockpit as warnings and klaxons blared loudly. It had all happened so fast! A spidering crack all along her visor killed any sort of view. The girl reached up and ripped the helmet off, gasping from the pain coursing through her body as blood streamed from just above and below her left eye. She could taste the steadily trickle of crimson liquid, her still healthy eyes darting to the rightmost view screen which showed the _Pythagoras_ absolutely overrun. Her face contorted into a defiant snarl-

The Gundam was jarred _HARD_ by a sudden kick to its blindsided face, rusty red coolant seeping from the remnants of its cracked eye and slashed face, dripping down and dribbling off into space. Another kick sent the blue suit hurtling aside, its slashed chest sparking madly.

_Varian_ zipped up behind the Gundam, ensnaring the near disabled unit in a tactical strangle hold, leveling its heat katana near the cockpit. The heat made the Gundam's armor pucker and bubble slightly. It couldn't take much more!

* * *

"How does it feel to be in the hotspot, Caerlise?" Zenna laughed, slowly spinning about so that the Gundam's good eye was aimed at the carnage in the distance. "I've even given you the best seat in the house! Do you see? _That _is how you drive rats out of the trash!" she laughed. "Any last words? Caerlise Alna?"

* * *

Lise struggled to move the Gundam, but it was held fast in place. "Yeah! What the HELL do you have against me?" She sucked the escaping air in her cockpit quickly, trying to silence her pain. "AGAINST YOUR CLASSMATES?

* * *

Zenna's beautiful lips contorted into a scowl, her eyes hardening wildly, "The fact that you just won't DIE!"

* * *

Lise could hear the anger in her voice. The hate and the hysteria… She could tell there was something underlying. Something disturbing and distorting Zenna Renault. As it was, there was nothing she could do.

* * *

"I want you to see your friends die! IT WAS MORE THAN I GOT TO SEE!" Zenna added, her voice slathered with sadness and giddiness. She would finally get to avenge him…

* * *

The Gundam's cockpit monitors flickered as the chokehold further strained the sparking camera connections. The mobile suit was missing body plating; the battered, destroyed, and scorched remnants of shimmering blue armor barely hung on…; the Gundam was close to destruction.

Static on the radio…; an image on the screen

_"Lise!"_ Kyrie's voice sounded exhausted yet strong. _"Jidane! He's okay! I've got him right here! We're taking pretty heavy fire but Akio is doing his best… and Tieria too."_

The camera blipped, now at a wider angle. Lise could see her childhood friend lying in Kyrie's arms on the floor, his normal suited body shrouded by the helmet.

_"Hey you…"_ the boy started. _"I made it, huh? Haha, man your good luck must really be rubbing off on me after all these years." _ The boy sounded so tired… so near death…

"JIDANE! KYRIE!" the girl shouted loudly, tears streaking from her eyes.

_"I see a whole lotta this," _Jidane laughed, snapping his hand open and closed slowly, _"but I'm not hearing anything. Your com connection to us busted,"_ he said with a tired grin. His expression changed, _"Hey… you're bleeding all over the cockpit again? What am I gonna do with you… Lise…"_

Kyrie's eyes watered, shaking her helmeted head, _"I don't want to cry… but I guess that's just me, huh? Lise…"_ the girl held tightly onto Jidane's hand, her bottom lip quivering as she looked dead into the camera. _"… No matter what you do… you have to live!"_

_"Yeah," _Jidane added with a confident nod, _"We're not screaming for our lives ya know. We fought hard… just wish I could come rescue YOU for a change, haha…"_

Caerlise's body shook as she remembered that fateful afternoon, 8 years ago… The orphanage had gone downtown for the annual Color Guard Parade, a Union festival which commemorated the Veterans of wars past and the men and women who were serving the Union. It had been wonderful fun, especially since the entire orphanage had been invited to view the festivities from the executive box seats located in the Union Trade Center down town.

Everything was so fun that day…

Until the plane crashed into the top of the tower.

People cried and the tumult was nightmarish as the orphans all struggled to run away, some getting trampled underneath the feet of the adults, others not knowing what to do. Caerlise gathered everyone as best she could and helped them all escape, only to be led out by a kindly bearded man, decorated in numerous military honors.

As they neared the exit, Jidane had stumbled and fell; Caerlise wasted no time going back to fish him out, fighting her way past the retreating crowd. She hoisted the boy up to his feet and practically carried him along to the exit, shoving him through just as the only exit collapsed shut…

Lise snapped out of her memory, taking in his kind expression. She had never met a kid quite like Jidane.

_"You taught us all something, Lise. You're a rough, tough person… but you made sure we all knew WHO we were on a daily basis. You're our anchor!" _Kyrie said with a tired smile.

_"… You grounded us,"_ Jidane added with a nod.

_"So that's why… even if we die here, keep on living! Not for the sake of us, or for being scared to die! Just remember us and live… for the sake of__** living!**__-_

The video cut out and the com bled static. She watched as the _Pythagoras_ gave another valiant effort to keep fighting and continue living, belching pink beam fire at the swarming enemies.

Always fighting. Always pushing towards the future…

Always living.

Lise was speechless. Her bottom lip trembled as twin tear drops streaked down her face, hidden by her brown hair. The tears mingled with her blood, slowly warbling and elongating in the absence of gravity, floating upward.

* * *

"ENOUGH CHITCHAT!" Zenna shouted, the mobile suit tensing to slash through the cockpit.

In a loud burst of blue light, the Gundam _Agilent_ broke free of the hold, its blazing blue aura ten times as bright.

The Gundam's belching GN Drive split open on four hidden hinges into a four leaf blossom shape, revealing an inner drive encased in a fiery blue conical haze. The blazing blue Gundam slowly spun around, glaring at its enemy with its one good eye.

"What the HELL?" The high-classed girl's eyes were wide in amazement.

_ "Don't even try! YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND!"_ Caerlise's voice rang loudly through _Varian's_ cockpit as the Gundam's exposed drive churned more and more blue particles out, flooding the area.

* * *

"You don't understand emotions…, people…; YOU NEVER WILL!" Caerlise's eyes were wide with passionate fervor, her spatial awareness increasing by the second. "Not unless you open that cold heart of yours… AND SHUT THE HELL UP!"

The girl's honey brown eyes flickered an iridescent, sweltering gold as the spiral hum from the blazing GN blossom on the _Agilent_'s back grew louder, the blue particles brighter.

"My friends…, the bond we share…; this Gundam shines BECAUSE OF IT! WHO THE _HELL_ ARE YOU TO DECIDE THEIR FATE?"

Zenna watched in awe, unable to comprehend the pressure she was feeling. It was as if something… someone was invading her thoughts and memories. She was scared…

"Even if our bodies burn…; even if this universe caves in on us all…, THE HEART THAT WE SHARE WILL NEVER… DIE!"

The DRC Gauge racked up to 100% as the cockpit washed with white light. Across the glowing control panel screen, text flashed brightly:

**K.I.W.I. COLLAPSE: ACTIVE**

The shimmering blue Gundam burst into a searing pure white glow as a massive wave of blue light soared across the battlescape. Not GN Particles. GN Waves.

_…_

* * *

-...-

"Hardy! Marriner! It's time! We're going to back up the Captain, alright?" Kaino barked into the com, his blue GN-XIII falling from the transport ship, followed by two others. All three of them had made it into space along with the Captain and her Varian, barely surviving the aerial conflict earlier.

_ "Roger!"_

_ "Roger that, Lieutenant!"_

Kaino's eyes glared forward with concern, "And If I'm lucky… neither one of them killed each other-

The sudden blue wave of light cascaded across space, startling the three men. From the epicenter of the wave, a blinding white flash emanated brightly, churning more and more blue waves of light across the distance.

The waves slammed into the three man squad, having no ill effects. _"Lieutenant Jenesis! What the hell is that light?"_ Ensign Marriner asked out loud, his voice full of surprise.

"I don't know but we-

_He saw the high classed man sitting at his desk, mulling deep thoughts.  
He saw the young woman talking to him, her eyes hiding an ulterior motive.  
He saw the high classed man's video image screaming angrily before it was snuffed out._

"Lieutenant?" Ensign Hardy asked loudly, eying the sudden deceleration of his leader's suit.

"I-I'm fine!" Kaino muttered as he picked up speed, a niggling headache biting at his brain. "Let's go!"

_…_

* * *

-...-

"Look at that light!" Akio shouted in awe as the two kids on the floor looked out the main window, the searing wave of blue light cascading over all of them.

All it took was one GN-XIII. The single suit slipped past the ships turrets and leveled its lance at the bridge.

All three… they were not scared. In fact, they all felt as though Caerlise was nearby. Right beside them, protecting them… always…

In the next instant, the GN suit was shorn in two by a blazing column of white light. The massive explosion rocked the ship hard, causing the lights to flicker and dim, gently turning back on strong.

Past the explosion, they all three saw it.

They saw the glowing White Angel.

The Gundam _Agilent's_ searing white glow burned their eyes as it turned away from them, brandishing it's now blazing white beam saber. Space warped for a microsecond, and then the suit vanished, reappearing far away to engage the enemy. The crew was doubly shocked to see _two other_ white Gundams blazing along the battle field like white hot comets, taking down enemy after enemy, never relenting, using a similar space shifting ability to traverse the battle areas near instantaneously.

* * *

Inside the E.F.S.F. _Bruker_, it was utter chaos. Alarms sounding, personnel running about, the chain of command utterly broken…

"WHERE THE HELL DID THOSE THREE MOBILE SUITS COME FROM?" The Captain demanded, his white knuckles practically breaking through the skin.

Within the sea of blue light, the divine radiating white Gundam's lone blue eye blazed as an ice inferno. The suit motioned an upward slash as the bridge and all personnel were reduced to molten metal and ash long before the holy white beam saber sliced through. A Second Gundam appeared at the rear of the ship, leveling its Vulcan cannon to rend the entire ship's engines and power plant asunder with one round of fire.

The _Bruker_ went up in a glorious explosion, heralding the _Pythagoras_' route to safety. Both suits warped the GN Wave space about them and bolted to separate battle zones, continuing their tirade.

* * *

The Crew of the _Celestial Being_ ship were all in awe, taking in the scene. _Three_ Gundams?

_"Impossible!" _Tieria piped up, analyzing the data, _"The Gundam's waveform is completely collapsed within this light! The laws of Quantum Physics no longer apply… the Gundam is in multiple locations at the same time, even capable of super imposition!"_

__..._  
_

* * *

-...-

"WHAT… THE HELL?" Zenna cried, her eyes wide in fear of the blazing white God. Within the blue light and the white blaze of this deity before her… she felt her mind slip away…

Caerlise could see it. Everything.

All of her friends.

Kaino.

Zenna.

Even time itself…

* * *

The brunette opened her eyes to see Zenna's wide eyed look of fright, basked in a white ocean of light. They were both completely nude, the bleach white light making their bodies glow brightly. Behind the blonde girl she could see a memory of her past… There she was as a small child, holding her father's hand. The two walked, hand in hand, their backs to the girl.

Her smile.

Her laugh.

She was such a _happy_ little girl.

A new memory of little Zenna flashed. She was walking with her babysitter, glaring at a lowly homeless girl, the same age as her, playing with a beat up dirty rag doll. Little Zenna stopped, noting the happiness in the little girls eyes. She looked down at the doll in her own grasp.

China.

Expensive.

Zenna grabbed the ragdoll from the girl's grasp and threw it into the dirt, smearing it in deeply with her dainty saddle shoes. _"How DARE you think you can have fun with a doll? Dolls are only for good little girls. SMART little girls! Not some stupid piece of TRASH like you!"_ The baby sitter attempted to scold her. _"You keep your mouth shut! Do you hear? My father PAYS you so you should shut up! Unless you no longer want your job…"_ At such a young age... so precocious.

Another Memory. The 10 year old Zenna sneered angrily at the crowd of people below the observation deck. How cute she looked in her blue and white dress. She turned to see all the orphans clamoring to get a better look at the Color Parade from their amazing location, high above. Zenna shook her head as her father walked up beside her.

_"Zenna… why don't you go make friends with the other children?"_ he asked kindly.

_"Now why would I want to do that, Father?"_ she replied back, hardly minding her manners.

Her father placed his hand on her shoulder. _"You are a model to them, Little One… never forget that."_ He bent down to her height… his kind bearded face smiling.

* * *

Caerlise's eyes grew wide. "So this…!"

* * *

_"You are a person of high status… and you must never forget the people who have nothing."_ The man shook his head lovingly. _"There are more of them than there are of us, Zenna. Without the foundation of strong friendships… bonds between all peoples of every kind… we have no future."_

The girl's expression phased arrogant and disrespectful. _"Father I hate it here! I hate this parade, I hate those smelly children… AND I HATE YOU!"_ She shouted, bolting from the room.

Her father motioned for her, but instead let her go. He shook his head, turning back to the window to look out at the beautiful procession. _"… Where did I go wrong Aria…? Was it in letting our Daughter know of her riches and status too soon?"_

_

* * *

_

"That man… he was your father…?" Caerlise's memories flashed before the both of them. She remembered pushing little Jidane out to safety just before she was sealed to her fate.

* * *

_ "Sweetheart!"_

The 10 year old looked about, hearing a kind man call toward her. She spotted the bearded man who had led the children to safety earlier. _"Mister!"_ She ran over to him, noticing his bleeding wounds.

_"No no… don't worry about me little one…"_ he looked up at her, his stately black uniform filthy with dust. _"… Young ones like you…" he looked deep into her eyes, "… exactly like you… will be our future… Please… speak for us. Stand strong for Humankind… Show them all… that we Humans are capable… of understanding-"_

The building caved down as the man reached for her, shielding her as best he could from the falling debris and burning shrapnel.

* * *

Caerlise's eyes streamed tears, remembering for the first time in her life experiencing what it felt like to be loved by a father. Her eyes slowly glistened to Zenna who was bawling, running her hands through her hair. "…Zenna-

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT _UUUUPPP!_" The girl screamed. "THOSE ARE MY MEMORIES!" Her voice was hysterically shrill. "You would never understand… YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO LOOSE YOUR DADDY! YOU DON'T KNOW THAT PAIN! The pain…."

* * *

"… _AND I HATE YOU!"_  
"… _AND I HATE YOU!"_  
"… _AND I HATE YOU!"_

Over and over Zenna's 10 year old voice shouted those last words to her father.

* * *

"… You're right…" Caerlise started, her tears whisking away. "I don't know that emotional pain. The only pain I ever knew was living with this disability…" She looked down at her arm and legs, slowly shaking her head, "Every few months growing up I had to have new implants put in because I kept on growing… and as I get older I guess I'll have to keep doing it to keep up with how my body changes… I'll never be able to afford full regenerative surgery. It always hurts like hell."

Lise looked up at Zenna whose gray eyes were focused on her, neither hate nor compassion in her steely gray gaze. "I act tough because I'm constantly in pain… I don't want to show it to anyone else. Heh!" She laughed, "I guess it's foolish, but it's become who I am… It's my barrier. Only my closest friends ever see me differently."

Zenna shook her head angrily, "Like I give a DAMN about any of that!"

Lise only gazed at her, supreme pity in her eyes.

"My Father… my… _daddy_… He DIED because he was protecting people like you! Penniless… classless… WORTHLESS children!"

Caerlise's brow displayed a maternal love towards the confused girl.

"My daddy chose to die with a piece of trash… than to live with his own daughter…" Her eyes glared deeply into Caerlise's soul. "In the end he chose _YOU _over _ME_!"

* * *

Another Memory. It was one year after the terror attack and young Zenna and another girl were chosen to present a memorial at Ground Zero. Zenna watched as the brunette girl in her out of style dress walked up to her side, smiling big.

_"Heya! I'm Caerlise! Caerlise Alna!"_ the 11 year old said with a smile. _"You must be Zenna Renault, right? Wow… you're beautiful!"_

_"Keep your mouth shut, you rat,"_ Zenna replied flatly, smiling for the camera.

Caerlise was surprised. She didn't even know the girl! _"…Excuse me?"_ she asked, her voice edging angry.

_"I said for you to keep your mouth shut, you little rat." _Zenna replied again, smiling and waving for the cameras.

Caerlise blinked, taken aback by the sudden firestorm of animosity from the beautiful girl.

_"I hear you were the one they pulled from the rubble… lost your arm and legs did you?"_

_ "… Yeah I did. Thanks to the Orphanage Fund, I was able to get-_

_ "Cybernetic Parts? I see." _The girl replied, leaning back to whisper into her ear. _"So I suppose you really ARE a freak, aren't you? Hehe!"_ The rich girl returned to smiling and posing for the camera, never missing a step. The girl's mind raged with hidden thoughts. **"So this is the bitch my father died to protect? One day… I'll make you pay for taking my daddy away…"**

**

* * *

**

Zenna laughed, setting back into her composure. "It was all you… you and your worthless people. ALL of you! Because of you, my father, a man among men, died that day! And it was all for YOU… to protect one… wretched life.

Caerlise only shook her head, that same look of pity in her eyes. "You really blame me… for your father's death…?"

Zenna glowered at her, her angry expression slowly melding flat. Dead set conviction.

"… Yes."

Caerlise closed her eyes, her bottom lip setting in place. "… I'm sorry… but…-

_..._

* * *

-...-

** "THAT'S **_**FUCKING**_** STUPID!"**

The girl's resounding shout shattered the ethereal, otherworldly meeting ground they were in, throwing both girls back to the harsh reality of the battle field. The blazing white _Agilent_ blasted forward, ramming hard into the _Varian_, its blue eye blazing with passion. Near instantaneously, _Agilent_ rammed _Varian_ again from behind as the white and black mobile suit staggered forward in space, trying in vain to evade the hit and run tactic.

"Shit happens in this world, UNDERSTAND THAT! You can't control it, and you sure as hell can't change it after it happens, SO STOP LIVING IN THE PAST!" Lise's shouts were slathered with conviction and defiance. "The only thing left to do is decide how you live your life after the fact! How do you let your past effect you?

Do you let it build you up?  
Do you let it tear you down?

How do you make the most out of your _life_? Out of all your experiences?" Caerlise and _Agilent_ were a blinding white fury about the overwhelmed Zenna and _Varian_ in the midst of the blue light waves. "All your hopes? Failures? Dreams? WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THEM?"

Zenna swiped wildly with the heat katana, the weapon flinging from her grasp.

"With all of those summed up as one… _THE CORE OF WHO YOU ARE_…, the thing that matters most is…

What do you do…

WITH YOUR _FUTURE_?"

Two blazing white Gundams punctuated the resonating statement by slicing the _Varian's_ arms off at the shoulders, one Gundam in front and one Gundam behind the white and black suit.

Caerlise looked up with infectious determination, her eyes sweltering a constant gold.

_…_

* * *

-...-

"ZENNA!" Kaino eyed the glowing white twin beasts rip apart the _Varian_, his eyes going wide. The boy didn't know if he should be scared, or begin praying to this new Deity. "Marriner! Pull hard on your right-

One of the two Gundams was gone!

A stark explosion beside him rocked Kaino's GN-XIII, as Ensign Marriner's suit cleaved in two, exploding brightly.

"DAMMIT!" Kaino shouted, turning to see his other wingman stopped before him, observing the explosion

The other XIII exploded spontaneously as the White Gundam appeared exactly in its place in a menacing pose. The Gundam superimposed itself in the space of the Federal suit, erasing its existence with a fiery blast. The Gundam's blazing white saber was drawn, pointed at Kaino menacingly.

The boy trembled, swearing he could see space warping about Ensign Hardy's GN-XIII before it exploded-

_He was at a party, dancing with a beautiful lady in a red dress…  
He was talking to that lady… she pulled a gun on him.  
He sat on a plush couch, perfectly content and at ease._

_He felt emotion. Surprise that something uncalculated had occurred.  
He felt emotion. Smug with his own wiles, just as a bullet screamed through his forehead.  
He felt emotion. Superiority as he gazed back into the dirty little boy's reverent, awe filled gaze._

Kaino blinked hard, staring into the holy Gundam's battered, yet beautiful, white face-

_He saw the end. A similar Gundam spearing him straight through._

The burning white mobile suit lowered its beam saber, paying the still GN-XIII no more mind as it turned and blasted up high and out of the way, looking for more harassing enemies surrounding the _Pythagoras_.

_…_

* * *

-...-

The lone, blazing white Gundam stood before the armless and pride less _Varian_, Lise's eyes glowing a iridescent gold. _Agilent_ grabbed the _Varian's_ head and leveled the scorching white beam saber at the cockpit.

"This is it, Zenna… now's the time to change! What will it be? Your past that's held down by gravity? Or your future which is dying for a chance to be lived without boundaries?" the golden eyed brunette questioned.

* * *

The blonde shook uncontrollably in her seat, losing all control of her bowels. All she wanted was her daddy… _her_ daddy… The one _that_ girl took away from her.

Even her dead father couldn't save her now…

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" she shrieked, her eyes filled with hatred and terror.

* * *

The Gundam tightened its grip, rearing back with the Beam Saber.

"WRONG-

The mobile suit instead gave a hard roll, tossing the wounded _Varian_ hard above it.

-ANSWER!"

Lise shouted out loud as the Gundam shifted out and into space above the black and white MS, delivering a HARD punch with _Agilent's_ erupting, burning white fist, squarely connecting with the oncoming Varian's head.

In the brief instant where the Gundam's fist collided, Lise could hear the skin-linked scream of the girl as her suit hurtled through space, headed earth side.

* * *

Near the _Pythagoras_, a Gundam slashed hard through a GN-XIII, the rest of the forces hastily retreating back to the High Orbital Ring. All four Gundams hovered within their respective battle zones, slowly turning into ghostly white apparitions within the sea of blue light… gently disappearing, giving one last shimmer of white light before vanishing completely.

* * *

The Gundam nearest earth side hovered gently, its saber still drawn. _Agilent _looked downward as its white glow died down; likewise, the waves of blue light dispersed into a sea of blue GN Particles. The canonical blossom of azure fire on its back closed together tightly, extinguishing a large portion of the blue particles being formed, regulating them to their original quantities.

The battle was over!

Lise's hands trembled as a tear gathered and rose up into the air. It had been so intense… that encounter in space… that insight into her future… She bore her heart so brazenly to the person who hated her the most. Never in her life had she felt so naked and vulnerable.

Both she and that person saw potential and life in the unknown future by gazing into the past. All it needed was a change… an innovation… in mindset and understanding.

For a split moment, she knew someone… like no normal human ever could… There were no blocks. Every obstacle of self barriers and false fronts were cast aside…

And that person refused to try and change. She blinked hard, her tears streaming and globbing through her blood and into the cut below her now normal honey brown eyes.

Such is life. People will be as they will be. Change in humanity must be voluntary, otherwise what hope, what merit is there in a future created for humans, if not by those who are willing to change and adapt to the future? _To each other?_

The weary girl looked forward at the sparking monitor to see the damaged _Pythagoras_ bank and head her way… ready to take her home. The girl's weary head set back against the seat's head rest, her helmet slowly bobbing in the zero gravity. A tired smile crossed her sweat and blood covered, beautiful face.

"…Everyone… thank you."

_…_

* * *

-...-

The _Varian_ sparked like mad, hissing as internal struts and gears struggled to compensate for the volatile suit's hard use of the boosters.

Zenna's eyes glowered beneath her helmet, her pride utterly dashed to pieces. For some reason that girl had let her live. "… God… _damn_ her…" she seethed, slamming her fist on the side of the view screen. Even in a far superior suit, that Caerlise Alna bested her a _third time!_ The radar screen blinked, showing Lieutenant Kaino's GN-XIII hovering quietly in space. Instantly the girl's anger skyrocketed.

_"KAINO! Where the hell WERE YOU?" _her voice screamed over the com channel to her subordinate. Her shrill demands were all too similar to a spoiled brat who did not have her way. _"Look at my VARIAN! It's all because of YOU! YOU could have KILLED HER FOR ME-_

The boy's GN-XIII delivered a resounding backhanded slap to the _Varian's_ crushed head, dislodging it and sending it crashing off towards Earth. Across the com channel, he could hear the girl's shout of surprise and pain. "… Yet another… _greedy_ little girl…"

"KAINO?" Zenna's eyes were wide as the GN-XIII leveled its beam rifle at her.

Blast after blast peppered the already crippled _Varian_, blasting a hole clean through the cockpit.

"NAAAAAAOOOOOOO!"

The girl's cockpit suddenly flushed with vacuum, numerous explosions going off at once inside the exposed control station as the boy continued to violate the disabled MS.

Zenna could hear her own flesh rip and tear and feel the resounding splatter of blood against her helmet; in a white-hot rage of pain, her left arm was forcefully removed from her body. Another series of violent explosions robbed her of her legs in a gloriously violent display of impartiality. Another series of explosion rocked her head to the side, repeatedly slamming her helmet ferociously against the side of the cockpit. She could hear the wet grind of her small vertebrae against each other. She could _feel_ it. The visor cracked, shattering a shard free, to expose her wildly hysterical eye to the void of space as blood and her mangled limbs floated about her, peacefully tumbling out of the open hole.

The boy merely watched as the rifle exhausted its beam clip. The magnified image of the girl reached forward towards him with her right arm, her eye conveying a desperate plea to survive. To live for the future! Any future that she could participate in! She drew her hand back to her blood stained throat, grasping at it in agony. The boy only grinned, his voice coolly knifing the silence in his cockpit, "It's hard to breathe in space." The once proud Varian _drifted_ on through the void. He couldn't care less what happened to it.

The GN-XIII turned and blasted away, back towards the transport ship. The boy reached up and took off his helmet, relishing the cool temperature of space. He looked down, noting his reflection in the helmet's shiny visor with a laugh. "This _must_ be some clever irony…" the boy grinned, happy for at least one constant. "This certainly is serendipity." He reached down into the flight suit, and pulled out the dog tags reading them out loud.

"Kaino S. Jenesis."

The boy laughed, clutching them tightly in his fist. "A renewed beginning indeed…" The pastel green haired, violet eyed boy breathed in deeply, setting his gaze. "I thank you for providing a powerful enough medium for me to upload myself back into an Innovade, Gundam…" The blue suit blasted on, his ideals churning rapidly through his mind.

"Veda… Let me glimpse again into the future… You and I both have been waiting for those… _dialogues to come…_"


	6. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**

* * *

**

Tieria monitored each station intermittently, checking and double checking the crew's status and operations. _"Repairs are still going smoothly… they will take some time, but we're still well on our way to rendezvousing with Celestial Being."_ He stated, a hint of anticipation in his voice. It had been so long since he had last seen his friends…

"Talk about a round-a-bout way of doing it though," Jidane laughed, back manning the helm and sporting several bandages on his young face. Everyone was in their colored clothing, looking every bit the capable crew.

"But in the end, we're all safe… that's what really matters," Kyrie piped up, a smile crossing her face at the Navigation station.

"Yeah I'll say," Akio started with a yawn. "Man I'm getting a little restless from not blowing stuff up lately!

It had been two days since the fateful departure from the earth's gravity well. It would take some time, but there were enough supplies to survive until they could get a proper refit and resupply from _Celestial Being_.

"So what will happen, Tieria?" Kyrie asked, turning to look at his speech pattern. "Do you think we'll get retired and be able to live a life of luxury?" she laughed.

_"I doubt it,"_ he responded, affirmation in his voice, _"As it stands, you all are the perfect crew for the Pythagoras. Onboard the Ptolemaios, my friends and I were at odds at first, and slow to recognize each other as valuable members of the organization. I see no such flaws with you all."_

Jidane, Akio, and Kyrie all shared a look, still surprised as ever at Tieria's compliments.

_"And that girl-"_

At that moment, Caerlise walked onto the bridge, a small white bandage covering the cut on her cheekbone she sustained in the fight. The girl wore her red jacketed clothes, black zip up shirt, and stark white tank top in her unique way … complete with matching black and gray hip-hugging pants that showed off her volleyball physique perfectly. Her sliver belt hung low on her athletic hips, furthering her "tough" look.

_ "… She is definitely the best pilot for the Gundam Agilent!"_

Caerlise grinned, her brunette hair only accenting her cool look. "Jeez… lets all stop talkin' about her before she comes into the room, right?" The other three laughed, each one smiling, relishing the pure bond that existed and radiated between them all.

Old friends.

New friends.

Their bond would be unshakable!

Caerlise stepped up to the only available seat… the captain's place, standing with her arms defiantly crossed before her.

That bold pose; her audacious look of adventure; it was intoxicatingly invigorating! The girl gazed forward into the black of space, her grin shining tenfold with infectious defiance.

"Alright guys! Lets head on to tomorrow! It's gonna be one _helluva_ ride!"

THE END


	7. Chapter ?

**Chapter ?:**  
**?**

**

* * *

**

The Los Angeles Cybernetic Treatment Clinic was a far cry quieter… perhaps even a bit more efficient, since Caerlise hadn't returned from school that day.

Dr. Rebeccah Castle read the girl's email for the thousandth time on her smart-phone, her kind eyes appearing more tired than usual behind her glasses.

**Heya Doc,  
Listen… I got to wondering about what I want to do with my life and  
decided that I need some time to think everything thru.  
dont worry about me, Im with friends… besides, even if I wasnt  
would u really worry about if I was hurt? dont answer that LOL! ;o)**

**I love u Doc… no matter what happens in this life, never forget that!  
-Lise**

**PS—would u mind paying that traffic ticket on my bike? kthnx!**

**:D  
**

The woman smiled, reading the email in the Girl's voice perfectly. Her eyes turned to a view screen on the far wall depicting a ship's travel progress en-route to the large Gas Planet. The woman laughed despite the severity of the situation, shaking her head. "It appears that our great-great-great grandfather's legacy has finally awakened." The woman smiled, "At least it is in good hands."

Dr. Castle stood up, her beautiful 40 year old body certainly not showing its age. Her long red brown hair was only perfected further by her kind, dark eyes. The woman walked over to a framed picture on her desk of a young boy with red brown hair holding his baby sister, smiling broadly and proudly for the camera. She smiled, setting her phone down and touching the boy's face with her agile finger tips.

"This is how I choose to remember you, brother… Innocent and kind… Thoughtful…" She closed her eyes, remembering his estranged teenage years and how he had a falling out with their father. "… Father always knew you had a defiant nature…; You were too similar. Such a rampant ambition, the both of you. You always wanted to be in control of everything…" Her eyes were in a far off place. "Grandfather was right to hide our forefather's secrets from you." Her eyes hardened in memory. "And you, Father… you were far too untrusting, even of your own flesh and blood."

The woman sat at the desk and typed in a password on the keyboard… taking her time before she hit the enter button. On the view screen across the room, a sharp marker point flashed along the Ship's route. The label "**EMPYREAN**" was affixed to it in bold red letters. "At the very least, get well rested and repaired…" she whispered as she closed her eyes.

She slowly opened them, looking at another picture on her desk. It was of Caerlise, Jidane, and Kyrie, from their freshman year of high school; a rag tag bunch, as raggedy and taggedy as the best of them. Dr. Castle focused on Caerlise and her big smile. She knew from the moment she met the girl that she was different from the rest…

"That girl will definitely be one of the few to speak on Mankind's behalf... she will change the fate of us all." Rebeccah smiled, recalling Caerlise's gruff exterior. For all her toughness, she always saw Lise's heart shining through, always true and passionate. "She will _continue _to change … The Earth and the Universe will all change to bring innovation to the future of Humanity."

"She will change in ways that you could not…

…Alejandro."


	8. Extra Extra

Fun stuff:

-Caerlise's name is pronounced "Sear-lease"

-The "anime intro song" is an original work by mine. I call it "Dream to the Future." I tried to write it as "cheesily" as some of Gundam's openers tend to be. Hope it worked!

-Kyrie Lazon's name is a play on "Kyrie Eleison" which means, "Lord have Mercy" in Latin

-Kaino S. Jenesis is a play on "Kainos" and "Genesis," two separate words meaning "renewal" and "beginning." in Greek. Perfect name for a return of "you know who" (I don't have to flat out say it, do I?). ;)

-I am an Analytical Chemist with a Master of Science degree (NERD ALERT!). I mainly did research in mass spectrometry analysis while in graduate school. Anyway, the instrument I used was the…

Agilent 7500cx ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer)! I always loved the name, Agilent, so it stuck! This ICPMS is equipped with an ORS (Octopole Reaction System) which is a variant of the DRC (Dynamic Reaction Cell). So it's all real technology and real names, but with a fantasy application in this story :p

-Varian and Bruker are also other mass spec brand names, as is Elan.

-Hitachi and Dionex focus on chromatography systems

You all don't care about that :p Just goes to show cooler things can come from a chemistry lab than just chemistry!

-And with that said, Agilent, Varian, Bruker, Elan, Hitachi, and Dionex; as well as ORS and DRC are all borrowed names and terms, and belong soley to their original owning enterprises (hopefully that goes without saying!).

I hope you had fun reading and please, leave a review, or shoot me a message!

-CR


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